Mayor Zohran Mamdani is demanding that federal immigration agents immediately stop parking vehicles and holding meetings on city-owned property, warning that New York will sue if the practice continues. The mayor's office says Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been using unstaffed municipal lots near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens as informal staging grounds.
Mamdani is demanding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately stop using city-owned property, according to NY1, which reports that ICE agents have parked vehicles and held meetings in unstaffed lots in both boroughs. The mayor did not mince words about what would happen if the activity persists. “If they keep coming back, we will see them in court,” he said, per the same report.
The letter, addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin along with senior ICE officials in Washington and New York, according to The New York Times, lays out a specific and troubling pattern. Since July, ICE agents had gathered at city-owned parking lots in Queens and the Bronx, including one next to a preschool, the Times reports, citing the mayor's letter. Mamdani's letter characterized the arrangement bluntly, calling the use of city property in furtherance of federal immigration enforcement unauthorized and therefore illegal, the newspaper notes.
Queens Lot Near Flushing Meadows Named in Letter
Among the specific sites cited is a lot on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Mamdani's letter identified a city-owned lot at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens as a location used by ICE agents, according to Politico, which described the mayor's threat to sue the Trump administration over what he called an illegal commandeering of city land.
PIX11, which first reported the mayor telling ICE it has no right to use city property, noted that Mamdani's office addressed the letter not only to Secretary Mullin but also to Daiv Venturella, ICE's acting director, and Kenneth Genalo, the agency's field director for the New York office. According to PIX11, Mamdani said the prohibition applies to every park and lot owned by New York City, and he called on the Department of Homeland Security to order its agents off city lots entirely.
New Parks Policy and a Broader Sanctuary Framework
Beyond the letter, the administration also announced a new NYC Parks policy Monday, strengthening procedures for frontline workers who encounter access attempts by nonlocal law-enforcement agencies, including ICE, per NY1's reporting. That move builds on Executive Order No. 13, which Mamdani signed earlier this year to protect New Yorkers from what his office has described as abusive immigration enforcement, strengthening the city's sanctuary policies and asking all city agencies to review their procedures for compliance.
New York City law backs up the mayor's position in writing. The Administrative Code states plainly that no city resources, including, but not limited to, time spent by employees, officers, contractors, or subcontractors while on duty, or the use of city property, shall be utilized for immigration enforcement, according to the New York City Administrative Code. A separate section of the code says the city shall not knowingly permit governmental personnel who are empowered to enforce civil or criminal laws, other than personnel of the city, to have access to non-public areas of city property unless specific exceptions apply, which can include presentation of a judicial warrant.
Earlier this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, prohibiting state and local law-enforcement agencies from agreeing to carry out federal civil immigration enforcement, NY1 reported. That measure adds another layer to a legal landscape New York City officials argue already puts limits on how far federal agents can go when it comes to the city's own land and resources.
What the Law Does Not Resolve
Even the code that bars city resources from being used for immigration enforcement includes a carve-out: nothing in the section shall prevent any city officer or employee from complying with federal law, the Administrative Code states. That caveat underscores the legal tension at the heart of Mamdani's standoff with federal immigration authorities — the city can restrict the use of its own property, but it operates within a framework shaped by federal authority over immigration itself.
It remains unclear whether ICE has responded to the mayor's letter or whether agents have since stopped using the lots identified in it. What is clear is that Mamdani has staked out a position he says he is prepared to defend in court if federal agents keep coming back to city-owned ground in Queens and the Bronx.
