1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I am writing to thank you for your October 16 letter urging New York City parking garage and lot owners not to allow ICE to use their properties as staging grounds for enforcement operations. I live in Jackson Heights, Queens, a neighborhood neighborhood you referenced in your letter, where ICE agents were repeatedly spotted using private parking lots of TD Bank on Northern Boulevard. My neighbors and I protested outside TD Bank for weeks and got very unsatisfactory responses about why they were allowing their private property to be used as a staging ground to terrorize our community. Your letter recognizes something fundamental about New York City: our strength comes from people looking out for one another. Businesses, community organizations, neighbors, and elected officials all have a role to play in keeping our communities safe. While the City cannot directly control how private property owners cooperate with federal authorities, appealing to their sense of civic responsibility and solidarity is an important step. Thank you for using your office to mobilize that collective responsibility, rather than simply accepting the limits of municipal authority. This is exactly the kind of principled, practical leadership I hoped to see from your administration. Please keep fighting for our immigrant neighbors. Jackson Heights is counting on you, and I am grateful to have a mayor who recognizes that protecting one another is part of what makes New York City great.