Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday threatened to sue the Trump administration unless Immigration and Customs Enforcement stops what he called the “unlawful commandeering” of city-owned property during immigration operations.
In a letter to US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Mamdani warned that New York City would take the federal government to court if immigration officials continued using municipal parking lots to stage their vehicles and activities.
“ICE has not secured any authorization from the City to use these lots for immigration enforcement. To be clear: the City does not authorize ICE using its property in this manner,” the letter states.
Speaking at an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn on Monday morning, Mamdani accused ICE of repeatedly ignoring city directives and laws.
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“This letter makes very clear that ICE has no right to use any city property or lots for anti-immigrant operations, and that we are willing to go to court if they continue to do so,” he told reporters.
According to Mamdani’s letter, ICE agents have reportedly parked vehicles and held meetings at several city-owned, unstaffed lots. Those locations include a parking area at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and lots along 111th Street on the western side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens—just steps from a city-run preschool and multiple cultural institutions visited daily by children.
Mamdani has also urged garage owners throughout the city to stop allowing ICE to use their properties as staging areas for immigration enforcement operations.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
