Mayor Zohran Mamdani and over 100 city and state elected officials wrote a letter on Thursday, Oct. 15, urging private parking garage and lot owners to not rent, lend, or allow ICE to use their property for immigration enforcement.
The letter follows the Marble Hill shooting of Oscar Belgal by federal agents as his 5-year-old son sat in the backseat. Following several sightings of ICE in the area, a coalition of elected officials in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan had reached out to Target and its co-owner, Kingsbridge Associates, to confirm whether they had formal agreements with ICE.
A Target spokesperson previously told the Bronx Times that it does not have a formal agreement with the federal agency. Two days after the shooting, Kingsbridge Associates told the elected officials that they were not aware that ICE was using their parking lot.
The shooting sparked protests against ICE’s presence in New York. Mayor Mamdani deployed the Strategic Response Group, whose officers violently clashed with protesters, including incoming Upper Manhattan representative Darializa Avila Chevalier, who was shoved to the ground.
In their letter, the officials warned that private parking lots and garages could serve as staging grounds for federal immigration enforcement operations, even without formal agreements between property owners and ICE.
Nationwide, there have been several reports of ICE agents using private parking lots for enforcement. In Queens, agents used two bank parking lots, while in Manhattan, agents used a garage on Morton Street. The Morton Street garage removed ICE vehicles after neighbors raised concerns, according to the mayor’s office.
“City law already bars ICE from using City property as a base of operations. Federal agents are turning to private parking lots, including a lot just blocks from where they shot Mr. Belgal,” Mamdani said.
“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 shooting has left the Marble Hill community in fear. Residents described fears of another ICE sweep, as well as concerns about further gun violence, noting that the shooting happened in broad daylight at a busy intersection between the Metro-North station and the subway.
“Each such use, whether part of a formal or informal arrangement or no arrangement at all, gives ICE a launching point for operations that have terrified and terrorized local communities, and risks placing your property, your employees and your customers at the center of that,” the letter said.
Elected officials also received reports of ICE agents operating out of the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Marble Hill. Councilmember Pierina Sanchez said she and other officials were exploring all options to restrict ICE’s presence in the city.
At an Oct. 9 rally, Sen. Gustavo Rivera questioned whether Kingsbridge Associates were truly aware or not that ICE agents had been able to operate out of the parking lot for months.
“If I was upstairs right now in this parking lot, and I put up-I don’t know-a car wash, how long do you think I’d last there?” Rivera asked at an Oct. 9 rally.
“You think I’d last long? No, I wouldn’t. But ICE did for months.”
Reach Marina Samuel at msamuel@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
