A Downtown Manhattan garage has ended a parking contract with the federal government after immigration activists protested the spaces were being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"As soon as we were made aware that these nine vehicles had been parked for a short duration, we took immediate action to have them removed," said Lizzy Levitan, a spokesperson for Metropolis, a technology company that leases the garage at 18-20 Morton St.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement Metropolis terminated its parking contract with ICE and requested that all nine of the government vehicles be removed. The spokesperson said the decision would not affect the agency's immigration enforcement efforts.
The decision came after immigration rights activists and others protested outside the garage May 14, waving cowbells, shouting and, at one point, blocking the street with a large sign that read "ICE parks here." Increasingly, anti-ICE protesters across the country have sought to draw attention to both private contractors and state and local government entities that profit from immigration enforcement.
The activists identified at least one of the government vehicles as having been previously parked at the nearby Pier 40 at Hudson River Park, where ICE’s decadeslong parking contract is soon to expire.
ICE recently requested lease proposals for 150 parking spots for midsized vans, SUVs and minibuses within a quarter-mile radius of its Varick Street offices. In the weeks since, the activists have scouted out nearby garages where ICE could park vehicles.
Organizers with Chelsea Neighbors United, a local anti-ICE advocacy group, sent an email to Metropolis' CEO Alexander Israel on Monday requesting that the company stop allowing ICE to park its vehicles at the Morton Street garage.
"We know that ICE is currently parking at your Morton Street location," the email stated. "We urge you to protect our neighbors and respect New Yorkers’ inevitable response, and say ‘no’ to ICE."
Trudy Rudnick, a retired education labor organizer who signed the email, said she got involved in local anti-ICE organizing in the past several months.
“People are really angry, especially that they have the nerve to park in our neighborhood so that they can go into their vans and kidnap our neighbors,” Rudnick said. “We’re outraged that the people who work in our neighborhood, who work in our restaurants and businesses, who work in our homes, are threatened.”
Metropolis has self-reported raising over $1.6 billion in financing as a technology company that uses artificial intelligence and computer vision for automated payments, in parking and other industries.
The local activists have also requested that Metropolis bar ICE from parking at its other garage locations across the city, but received no reply. Levitan, the Metropolis spokesperson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about that concern.
This article was updated with comment from the Department of Homeland Security.
