Mayor Zohran Mamdani is demanding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately stop using city-owned property for immigration enforcement operations, threatening legal action if the agency does not comply.<\/p>\n
According to a news release from the mayor\u2019s office, ICE\u2019s use of the properties is \u201cunauthorized and therefore illegal.\u201d Mamdani sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and other ICE officials demanding that agents leave the city-owned lots<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cICE has no right to use our property as a base for tearing families apart. That goes for every park and every lot this City owns. This unauthorized use of City property must end now,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cToday, I\u2019m telling DHS to order its agents off our lots. If they keep coming back, we will see them in court.\u201d<\/p>\n ICE agents have parked vehicles and held meetings in unstaffed lots, including a lot at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and lots on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, near a preschool and cultural institutions, according to Mamdani\u2019s office.<\/p>\n The administration also announced a new NYC Parks policy Monday for frontline workers, strengthening procedures for responding to attempts by nonlocal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, to access these locations.<\/p>\n