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Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to ask private New York City garage and parking lot owners to block ICE agents from using their property, The Post has learned.
“I am asking that you do not rent, lend, or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations,” Mamdani writes in the letter, a draft of which was obtained by The Post on Thursday.
“Make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots.”
The draft was being circulated among local lawmakers as City Hall was trying to pool support for his plea and get other pols to sign on. It wasn’t immediately clear when the letter would be sent or how many business owners were on the mailing list.
The letter was apparently sparked by reports that a Bronx garage serving a Target was used by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents involved in last week’s shooting of illegal immigrant Oscar Belgal. ICE had been using that lot for months — as far back as April — to stage its immigration operations across the borough, Gothamist reported.
Mamdani’s letter cited at least three other instances of ICE using private lots to stage its operations across the city.
“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,” the draft read, adding that such deals risk “placing your property, your employees, and your customers at the center of that.”
Mamdani explained the ways in which the Big Apple blocks ICE from using its property for staging enforcement operations — in line with the city’s sanctuary policies, which bar cooperation with federal immigration enforcement — and flat-out asked garage owners to fall in line.
“These laws govern City property, not the private lots and garages that you operate. That is why we need your help,” the draft reads.
Hizzoner framed the plea as coming from a position of “solidarity with immigrant New Yorkers and our shared commitment to the city we love,” adding that it came at “a critical juncture for our city.”
The letter went even further — pulling at heartstrings with reminders that “every day, your garages and lots serve the people who make New York City work,” and telling the owners: “thank you for the essential service that you provide to millions of New Yorkers and visitors each day.”
The attempt to extend public sanctuary laws to the private sector comes as Mamdani faced mounting pressure from his Democratic Socialists of America cronies to take a drastic measure in the wake of ICE’s October 8 shooting of Belgal in Marble Hill.
Belgal, 28, was in federal custody after he was shot while trying to drive away from ICE agents and suffered a wound to the neck. His 5-year-old son was also in the car during the shooting, and made it out unscathed.
Mamdani’s allies, including DSA darling and US House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, have set their sights on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in the aftermath, accusing her of violating sanctuary policies that bar the NYPD from working with ICE.
That’s despite Tisch presiding over one of the city’s steepest drops in violent crime, and the NYPD having no involvement in the ICE incident.
Several other prominent progressives have also broken ranks with Mamdani and called on him to can Tisch or for her to step down — though the mayor has staunchly refused, insisting the commissioner isn’t going anywhere.