New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately stop using city-owned property to stage and carry out immigration operations. According to city officials, federal agents are using public parking lots and parcels of land without the required permission. Mamdani said he would take legal action if the practice continues.
The mayor sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David J. Venturella and the head of ICE’s New York field office, Kenneth Genalo. He demanded that officers be given clear guidelines prohibiting the use of city land to organize operations.
The locations named include a parcel in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and parking lots along 111th Street, next to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The Queens sites are adjacent to, among other things, a city-run preschool and cultural institutions visited every day by hundreds of children and families.
“ICE has no right to use our properties as a base for separating families. That applies to every park and every lot owned by the city,” Mamdani said.
The mayor stressed that the unauthorized use of city land must end. “Today I am telling DHS to order its agents to leave our property. If they come back, we will meet them in court,” he said.
City attorney Steven Banks confirmed that the administration is prepared to take the matter to court.
Editor: JŁ
Source: Nowy Dziennik
