Mamdani threatens legal action over ICE use of city-owned lots

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, warned the Trump administration that legal action could follow if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to use city-owned parking lots for immigration enforcement without the city's authorization. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David Venturella, and ICE New York field office Director Kenneth Genalo, Mamdani said he is 'deeply troubled' by the unauthorized use of city-owned property for immigration enforcement, which he called illegal and dangerous. The mayor noted that ICE agents have reportedly used several city-owned parking lots for enforcement activities, including in a parking lot at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and in parking lots along 111th Street on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The mayor emphasized that these lots are meant for the safe use of New Yorkers and visitors and warned that their use for immigration enforcement is unauthorized. He called for immediate guidance to ICE agents to prohibit them from using city-owned lots for enforcement operations. The mayor also expressed the city's commitment to the safety and well-being of immigrant communities.

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A photorealistic image of a city-owned parking lot with ICE vehicles parked there, under dim lighting, showing a sense of tension and conflict.

The mayor said he would use all available lawful means to ensure the safety and well-being of immigrant communities.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. Last month, Mamdani and other New York Democratic leaders urged private parking lot owners to ban ICE from their properties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were among more than 100 elected officials who signed on to Mamdani's October letter. The mayor has previously pushed for ICE to be abolished, including after an ICE agent shot and killed Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July and after another ICE agent shot and wounded Dominican national Oscar Belgal during an enforcement operation in New York City last month.