NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani and top New York Democrats are calling on the owners of private parking lots to block federal immigration officers from using their properties as staging areas, days after immigration officers shot a man in the city.
In a Friday letter, Mamdani, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and dozens of state and local lawmakers told lot and garage owners that the city needs their “help at a critical juncture.”
“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 letter reads. “Make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots.”
The plea came after immigration officers shot 28-year-old Dominican national Oscar Belgal during an arrest last week as he rode in a car with his young son. The shooting sparked protests and drew renewed attention to the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
The federal officers had been using a nearby private parking lot as a staging area before the shooting, according to Friday's letter.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security slammed the letter in a statement that read: “Mayor Mamdani should be grateful to our brave law enforcement officers for cleaning up the streets of NYC since he won’t. Luckily, no terminated parking will stop ICE from deporting criminal illegal aliens to make New York safe again."
Federal officials maintain the immigration officers believed their lives were in danger and opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and accelerated toward them.
New York City has previously barred outside law enforcement agencies such as DHS from setting up staging areas on city property unless they have a judicial warrant or qualify for certain “limited legal exceptions,” according to the letter. “But these laws govern City property, not the private lots and garages that you operate,” it adds.
Private businesses have at times found themselves in the middle of tense political fights over President Donald Trump's administration's immigration enforcement push.
In one instance, a Minnesota hotel that refused to let immigration officers stay there in January apologized after public criticism from DHS, saying the decision violated its internal policies. In another, protesters occupied the lobby of a Manhattan hotel they said was housing some immigration officers.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks during a news conference near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks during a news conference near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's health ministry confirmed that a third person tested positive for Ebola on Friday while in quarantine after being identified as a known contact of the first patient, who died two days after arriving from Congo.
The ministry said in a statement that the third patient was a 65-year-old woman who is a relative of the 40-year-old man who died from Ebola on Oct. 5.
The woman has been in quarantine since Oct. 6 and developed symptoms before testing positive for the virus. She has since been transferred to the Infectious Disease Unit, the ministry said.
The second patient, a 39-year-old man from the same family, remains in stable condition, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said there was no evidence of community transmission, as all cases were linked to the first patient and the individuals had been in quarantine.
Ebola is highly contagious and spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, including blood and vomit, or through contact with contaminated materials and surfaces, such as bedding and clothing. Congo has been having its deadliest outbreak, with at least 4,000 deaths since May.
Three contacts linked to Kenya’s first case have yet to be traced. Efforts to trace people who interacted with the patient in neighboring Uganda and Congo have also faced challenges. The patient had been living in Congo and had travelled through three Ebola-affected provinces.
Health workers have been urging communities to share information if they suspect they may have interacted with an Ebola patient.
Dr. Barbara Muttimos of Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that people should be “honest about their exposures” and disclose their travel history and symptoms.
She said the chances of survival are higher when the virus is detected early.
Kenya has intensified screening at border crossings nationwide, with a designated gate at the main airport in the capital, Nairobi, for all flights arriving from 10 countries identified as being at the center of the Ebola outbreak.
At the Busia border crossing with Uganda, The Associated Press witnessed enhanced screening procedures, with members of the public washing their hands and having their temperatures checked.
Residents are, however, concerned about illegal crossings along the border.
A trader in Busia town, Richard Onyango, said the government should find “other ways of screening” because many people cross the border through unofficial routes.
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Associated Press journalist Andrew Kasuku contributed from Busia, Kenya.
A Kenyan health worker checks the temperatures of travelers crossing from Uganda to Kenya as part of measures to contain the spread of Ebola virus, in Busia, Kenya, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
People disinfect their hands as a Kenyan health worker checks the temperatures of travelers crossing from Uganda to Kenya as part of measures to contain the spread of Ebola virus, in Busia, Kenya, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
