Mamdani Orders ICE Off City Lots and Rolls Out New Rules for Parks Workers as Hochul Backs Him
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is escalating his fight with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement, warning that the city will go to court if Immigration and Customs Enforcement keeps using city-owned parking lots for its operations.
"Today, I'm telling DHS to order its agents off our lots," Mamdani said on Monday. "If they keep coming back, we will see them in court."
A Letter to DHS
Mamdani sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Acting ICE Director David Venturella and ICE New York Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo demanding that the agency instruct agents not to use city lots to stage or carry out immigration operations.
City officials say ICE has no authorization to use the properties and call the activity illegal, Fox News reported.
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Reports cited by the mayor's office placed ICE vehicles and agents at several unstaffed municipal lots, including one at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and others along 111th Street next to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, near a city-run preschool and cultural institutions.
"ICE has no right to use our property as a base for tearing families apart," Mamdani said, adding that the ban covers "every park and every lot this City owns."
Mamdani argued that letting federal agents operate from those lots could frighten residents who otherwise rely on city parks and facilities.
New Rules for City Workers
The administration is also carrying out Executive Order 13, which addresses attempts by outside law enforcement agencies to access city property.
Under the policy, New York City Parks employees are receiving new instructions on how to respond when ICE or other outside agents seek access. The rules distinguish between public and non-public areas and lay out steps employees must follow during encounters with federal agents.
City officials insist the measures only enforce local property rules and do not interfere with lawful federal authority outside city property.
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Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said DHS has now been formally put on notice that the city considers the practice unauthorized, and that the city is ready to sue if it continues.
Limits on What the City Can Do
The federal government has broad authority to enforce immigration law throughout New York City regardless of sanctuary policies, and under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, federal law generally overrides conflicting state and local rules. The open question is narrower: whether ICE can use city-owned property as a staging area without permission.
The move builds on an earlier effort. On Oct. 16, Mamdani joined more than 100 elected officials in urging private parking lot and garage operators to deny ICE access, after reports that agents had staged from private lots during raids in several neighborhoods.
Mamdani cannot order private businesses to keep federal agents out, so that campaign relied on voluntary cooperation. Monday's action goes further because the city itself controls the properties involved.
Gov. Kathy Hochul backed the mayor, saying she was disturbed by reports that ICE had used public property during immigration operations.
The standoff is the latest clash between Mamdani, who has vowed to defend the city's sanctuary policies, and President Donald Trump's aggressive enforcement agenda, and it lands as New Yorkers head to the polls.