Mamdani plans to ask New York mechanics to block use of ICE in guilt-inducing letter: sources

Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to ask New York City garage and private parking lot owners to block ICE agents from using their property, the Post has learned.

“I ask that you not rent, loan, or otherwise make your property available to ICE as a staging area for its enforcement operations,” Mamdani wrote in the letter, a draft of which was obtained Thursday by The Post.

“Let ICE know they are not allowed to use your garages and lots.”

The draft was circulating among local lawmakers as City Hall tried to rally support for its plea and get other Poles to sign it. It was not immediately clear when the letter would be sent or how many business owners were on the mailing list.

The letter was apparently prompted by reports that a Bronx garage serving Target was allegedly used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents involved in last week’s shooting of illegal immigrant Oscar Belgal. ICE had been using this land for months – as early as April – to stage its immigration operations throughout the borough, Gothamist reported.

Mamdani’s letter cited at least three other instances where ICE used private land to stage its operations across the city.

“Each of these uses, whether part of a formal or informal agreement or not part of an agreement at all, gives ICE a launching point for operations that have terrified and terrorized local communities,” the draft says, adding that such agreements risk “putting your property, your employees, and your customers at the center of it all.”

Mamdani explained how the Big Apple prevents ICE from using its property to stage enforcement operations — in accordance with the city’s sanctuary policies, which prohibit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement — and categorically demanded the garage owners fall in line.

“These laws govern City property, not the private land and garages you operate. That’s why we need your help,” the draft states.

Hizzoner presented 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 time for our city.”

The letter went even further – touching the heart by reminding 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 you provide to millions of New Yorkers and visitors every day.”

The attempt to extend public sanctuary laws to the private sector comes as Mamdani faces growing pressure from his friends at the Democratic Socialists of America to take drastic action in the wake of the Oct. 8 ICE shooting of Belgal in Marble Hill.

Belgal, 28, was in federal custody after he was shot while trying to get away from ICE agents and suffered a neck injury. Her 5-year-old son was also in the car during the shooting and escaped unharmed.

Mamdani’s allies, including DSA darling and House of Representatives candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, set their sights on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in the aftermath, accusing her of violating sanctuary policies that prohibit the NYPD from working with ICE.

This is despite the fact that Tisch is presiding over one of the city’s largest violent crime declines and the NYPD has no involvement in the ICE incident.

Several other prominent progressives also broke ranks with Mamdani and called on him to oust Tisch or for her to resign — though the mayor flatly refused, insisting the commissioner isn’t going anywhere.