New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other New York Democrats sent a letter Friday to private parking lot owners in the city, urging them to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from using their sites as staging areas.

Mamdani highlighted that many New Yorkers that use private parking facilities are immigrants and said 3.1 million New Yorkers were born outside the United States. 

“In solidarity with immigrant New Yorkers and in our shared commitment to the City we love, we ask that you do not rent, lend or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations,” the mayor wrote.

The letter comes after an incident in Marble Hill last week resulted in an ICE agent shooting an illegal migrant who was the focus of a targeted enforcement operation. 

"This criminal illegal alien was arrested by the NYPD on December 7, 2023, but was released into the community a few days later by reckless Democrat sanctuary policies that put American lives at risk," ICE said in a post after the Marble Hill incident. "When dangerous illegal aliens are released back onto the streets by radical sanctuary politicians, our officers are forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments," they added.

"ICE officers had been utilizing a privately owned parking lot only a few blocks away to stage their operations," Mamdani wrote in the letter Friday. "This is not an isolated case. ICE is using private parking facilities across the City as staging grounds for its operations.

"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 mayor added.

The letter was signed by Mamdani, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine and City Council Speaker Julie Menin among others.

"Time and again, New York City has made it through challenging moments because government, businesses, and community leaders come together and show the world what New Yorkers can do," Mamdani wrote. "Owners who refuse to take part in these federal civil immigration enforcement operations advance public safety by protecting their own staff and customers, as well as fellow New Yorkers beyond their lots and garages. 

"They also tell every immigrant New Yorker that they are treasured members of this community and that our City welcomes them with open arms. We hope you will stand with us," he added. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.