Mamdani Warns ICE to Stay Out of Two City Parking Lots

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent a letter Monday demanding that the Department of Homeland Security stop ICE agents from using city-owned lots to stage immigration enforcement operations without authorization. He warned that the city will take legal action if the use continues.

The dispute centers on reports that agents have been gathering in unstaffed city lots in the Bronx and Queens. The letter raises the question of who decides how city property is used when federal immigration agents are operating in New York.

For now it is a threat, not a lawsuit. No case has been filed, and neither DHS nor ICE had responded publicly in the reporting reviewed for this story. Patriot Daily Wire has not seen the letter itself; this account relies on a partial read of amNY's report and a search snippet of Bloomberg's.

What the Letter Demands

According to amNY, the letter is addressed to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David Venturella and Kenneth Genalo, who runs ICE's New York field office. It asks them to issue guidance explicitly barring agents from using city lots to stage or carry out enforcement, and it says ICE never received city authorization to use those properties for immigration enforcement.

The letter describes use of the lots for other purposes, "including ICE's reported use," as "unauthorized activity on City property," amNY reported. The wording refers to reported use, not confirmed use.

A search snippet of a Bloomberg story, which could not be read in full, says that according to the mayor's office the letter goes to Mullin and senior ICE officials and asks them to direct agents to stop using city lots without authorization.

"ICE has no right to use our property as a base for tearing families apart," Mamdani said in a statement quoted by amNY. He added: "This unauthorized use of City property must end now."

The administration also announced new rules Monday for Parks Department workers who encounter federal agents on city property. The specifics were not available in the reporting reviewed here.

The Lots in Question

The reported locations are unstaffed city lots at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and along 111th Street on the west side of Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. Agents reportedly parked vehicles and held meetings there, amNY reported, and the Queens lots sit next to a city-run preschool and several cultural institutions that children frequent.

A caution worth stating plainly: the claim that agents used these lots rests on reports, and amNY does not say who made them. Patriot Daily Wire found no independent confirmation, and no DHS or ICE response in the material reviewed.

The Mayor's Earlier Position

amNY reported that Mamdani had said previously, at a date the reporting does not give, that city law already bars ICE from using municipal property as a base of operations. He also urged private property owners to stop giving agents places to gather. That is the mayor's position, and the legal basis for it, and for the threatened legal action, was not spelled out in anything reviewed for this story.

The Bloomberg snippet describes Monday's letter as an escalation of Mamdani's fight against ICE after an agent shot a Dominican man in October 2026. That detail comes from Bloomberg alone and is unverified. The man's name, the date, the location and the circumstances were not available, and there is no indication the shooting is connected to the park lots.

Headlines differed by outlet. Some local stations wrote that the mayor threatens a lawsuit, while Bloomberg and Audacy wrote that he demands action. The letter appears to be a demand backed by a conditional legal threat.

What Comes Next

The next move belongs to DHS and ICE, whose response has not been reported. It is not yet known whether the letter sets a deadline, and the full text of the letter and the city's release were not reviewed. The mayor has warned of legal action if agents keep using the lots, but no suit has been filed.