Mamdani, New York Democrats call on private parking lot owners to ban ICE officers

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) and other Empire State Democratic leaders urged the city’s private parking lot owners Friday to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from their properties.

“In solidarity with immigrant New Yorkers and in our shared commitment to the City we love, we ask that you do not rent, lend or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations,” the mayor wrote in a letter to owners and operators of these properties.

More than 100 elected officials, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), signed on to Mamdani’s request.

The New York Democrats cited the recent ICE-involved shooting of Oscar Belgal in the city’s Marble Hill neighborhood last week while his 5-year-old son was in the car with him.

Following the shooting, the mayor condemned the Oct. 8 shooting as “unconscionable” in a social media post and demanded that all ICE enforcement operations be halted in the city.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said Belgal was an immigrant who had a prior criminal conviction and arrests.

The Friday letter pointed out that the federal immigration officials involved in the incident utilized a privately owned parking lot during their operations.

“Federal agents are turning to private parking lots, including a lot just blocks from where they shot Mr. Belgal,” Mamdani said in a Friday statement . “I am asking every garage and lot owner in this city to stop giving them that option. Do not rent your property to ICE. Do not lend it to them. Tell them they are not welcome.”

The Democratic officials pointed to an executive order the mayor signed earlier this year barring external law enforcement agencies, such as ICE, from staging operations on city property unless they have a judicial warrant or meet other “limited legal exceptions.”

“Time and again, New York City has made it through challenging moments because government, business and community leaders come together and show the world what New Yorkers can do,” the Democratic officials wrote in their Friday letter. “Owners who refuse to take part in these federal civil immigration enforcement operations advance public safety by protecting their own staff and customers, as well as fellow New Yorkers beyond their lots and garages. “

“They also tell every immigrant New Yorker that they are treasured members of this community and that our City welcomes them with open arms,” they continued. “We hope you will stand with us.”

A DHS spokesperson told The Hill on Friday that barring federal agents from parking lots would not halt deportation operations in the city.

“Mayor Mamdani should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC since he won’t,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Luckily, no terminated parking will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make New York safe again.”