BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Lacking the legal means with which to remove U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forces from NYC streets, efforts are being made to eliminate private property as a hospitable staging area for the federal government’s armed, often violent, anti-immigrant activity.

An October 16, 2026 letter signed by NYC Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and 100+ New York State elected officials urged over 1,000 owners and operators of parking garages and lots across the five boroughs to deny ICE vehicles and personnel access to their facilities. The full letter is available here. 

“Last week, ICE agents shot a father [Oscar Belgal, 28,] in the neck in Marble Hill while his 5-year-old son sat in the car,” wrote Mayor Mamdani, in a press release announcing the letter. While City law prevents ICE from using NYC property, “Federal agents are turning to private parking lots, including a lot just blocks from where they shot Mr. Belgal,” noted Mandani. As such, the letter urged garage and lot owners to not “rent, lend, or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations.”

That request is made in a manner mindful of successful results following public pressure applied by grassroots activists. “We know this kind of action can already make a difference,” said Mamdani in the press release, adding, “After neighbors spoke up, a garage on Morton Street removed ICE vehicles from its property.”

A similar success—the result of public protests, a letter-writing campaign, and concurrent advocacy from elected officials and Manhattan Community Board 4—saw Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) declare they would not renew a lucrative contract allowing ICE to use Pier 40’s parking facility. (HRPT did not acquiesce to repeated requests for first quarter 2026 contract termination, choosing instead to honor the arrangement through its June expiration date.)

Penn South resident Trudy Rudnick spoke with CCNews as a rep for the direct action activist group Chelsea Neighbors United (CLU). “What started as CNU rallying against ICE parking at Hudson River Park, became a large coalition which has led to Mayor Mamdani and more than a hundred elected officials calling for all private city parking lots not to allow ICE to use their property,” said Rudnick, further noting, “Neighbors throughout the country got Citizens Bank to stop funding [federal immigrant] detention centers. People have more power than they realize.”

Faced with the formidable task of asking privately owned, for-profit enterprises to part ways with a consistently reliable revenue stream, the October 16 letter was not above increasing its chances of a winning hand, by inserting the guilt and shame cards. (Alternatively, one might call the tactic “appealing to one’s humanity.”)

“When immigrant New Yorkers are afraid to drive to work, run errands or go about their daily lives, the consequences reach far beyond individual families. They affect neighborhoods, small businesses and the city’s economy as a whole,” read the letter, which continued with, “Parking owners have a choice: They can help their neighbors feel safe in their own communities, or they can provide ICE agents with a place to stage their anti-immigrant operations.”  

Note: New Yorkers seeking immigration legal assistance can call the MOIA Immigration Legal Support Hotline at 800-354-0365. The October 16 letter is available here. Elected Officials whose coverage area inludes Chelsea are among those named as signees.

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Launched on April 23, 2019, ChelseaCommunityNews.com (CCNews) is an independent online newspaper serving Manhattan’s Chelsea community and adjacent areas (Flatiron/NoMad & Meatpacking Districts, Hudson Yards, Hell’s Kitchen). Our free editorial content is made possible by advertising revenue, grants, quarterly pledges of support, and voluntary reader donations (click here to donate). To subscribe to our free ENewsletter, click here. ChelseaCommunityNews.com is a member of the New York Press Association (NYPA) and the Empire State Local News Coalition. Our work is collected for placement in the United States Library of Congress’ LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive. Honors at NYPA’s annual Better Newspaper Contest, 2021-2025, include 3 wins for Coverage of the Arts, and 2 wins for Best News or Feature Series.

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