New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatened Monday to sue the Trump administration over federal immigration agents allegedly using city-owned parking lots to stage enforcement operations, according to a letter the mayor sent to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In the letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE acting director David Venturella, Mamdani wrote that ICE's use of city property for immigration enforcement is "unauthorized and is therefore illegal," adding that it "endangers city residents, and sows fear among those who seek to access city property." POLITICO first reported the legal threat, describing it as an escalation in the mayor's effort to disrupt ICE activities.
Mamdani's office says ICE agents have reportedly parked their vehicles and held meetings in several city-owned, unstaffed parking lots, including at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, according to CBS New York. The letter also cites lots near a park and a city-run preschool.
"We want to make very clear that we mean what we say when we talk about sanctuary city policies and we talk about the fact that our city will not assist in immigration enforcement," Mamdani said Monday, per CBS New York. "What we've seen all too often is ICE's flouting of those directives and those laws. And this is a letter to make 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."
The mayor also unveiled a new policy Monday instructing parks workers to deny ICE agents access to city lots or non-public areas of parks without a warrant. Workers who do not comply could face discipline, though the policy tells them not to engage in verbal or physical altercations with federal agents. Last month, Mamdani urged private parking lot owners to keep ICE out after reports that agents staged in a Marble Hill lot before the shooting of 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, per CBS New York.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back sharply on the mayor's directive, saying ICE's presence is fully authorized under federal law.
"Mayor Mamdani should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC since he won't," a DHS spokesperson said, according to CBS New York. "Luckily, no terminated parking will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make New York safe again. We need New York to cooperate with our officers and stop releasing criminals from their jails into New York's neighborhoods. Seven of the 10 safest cities in America cooperate with ICE."
The controversy is not breaking along clean party lines in the city. Queens City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a Republican, accused the mayor of overstepping, telling CBS New York that "the feds, of course, are going to come" and that Mamdani's posture puts politics ahead of public safety.
The letter marks the latest front in a running conflict between New York City's sanctuary policies and the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. It is not yet known whether the administration has responded formally to the letter or whether the city has set a deadline before filing suit.
A post on Instagram about the standoff carried the caption, "BREAKING: Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatened Monday to ..." The post does not include the full text of the mayor's letter, and the caption is not a direct quotation of the mayor.
For New Yorkers, the practical question is what changes on the ground. Under the new parks policy, city workers are directed to turn federal agents away from non-public areas without a warrant, and the mayor's office says legal action will follow if ICE keeps using the lots. Federal officials counter that they intend to keep operating in the city regardless.
Our Take
Zohran Mamdani ran on making New York a fortress against federal immigration enforcement, and now he is testing how far a mayor can go before the law stops him. But his letter is a political document dressed up as a legal one. The Supreme Court has long held that states and cities cannot commandeer federal officers or block them from carrying out federal duties. Telling parks workers to demand a warrant from ICE agents and threatening them with discipline for cooperating is not sanctuary policy. It is obstruction with a city paycheck.
Notice what Mamdani is not saying. He is not arguing that the people ICE is looking for are law-abiding neighbors. He is arguing that the federal government cannot park its vans on city asphalt. That is the argument you make when you have nothing better. Meanwhile, DHS says seven of the ten safest cities in America cooperate with ICE. New York under Mamdani is choosing the other column.
The mayor says he is willing to go to court. Good. Let him explain to a federal judge why a city parking lot is a constitutional shield for criminal illegal aliens. And let New Yorkers ask themselves whether their mayor is protecting them or protecting the people the feds are trying to deport.
