SFMTA Can Cancel Its Garage Contract Over ICE Parking, a Review Found. It Hasn't.

The 2022 contract between San Francisco and a private firm that runs a city parking garage used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement gives the city "sole discretion" to terminate that agreement, according to language in the contract obtained by Mission Local.

ICE vehicles have been parked in a downtown garage owned by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency but operated by IMCO Parking for at least a year. Mission Local first reported that use on Oct. 30, and The Bay Area Brief covered the city's review at the time. A week after that report, the vehicles remained, and the contract had not been terminated, despite language stating the "City shall have the option, in its sole discretion, to terminate this Agreement, at any time during the term hereof, for convenience and without cause."

Canceling the agreement with IMCO "appears to require termination of the entire agreement, not individual parking garages," said Scott Emblidge, a former city attorney now in private practice, who reviewed the contract at Mission Local's request. The contract covers more than a dozen city garages and lots, not just the Golden Gateway Garage at 250 Clay St., a few blocks from a downtown ICE field office. "Any termination would have financial impact for the city," Emblidge said. The SFMTA relies on off-street parking revenue.

Instead of canceling the contract, SFMTA sent a letter to the General Services Administration on Nov. 2 saying that ICE's presence was "inconsistent with the City's laws and policies" and asking it to "immediately remove" any ICE vehicles at the garage, Mission Local reported. An SFMTA spokesperson has said the agency was not aware of the ICE use until last week and that a subcontract between IMCO and the federal government, approved by the city under unknown terms, allowed spaces to be allocated for ICE and other federal agencies. The agency declined to respond when asked why it has not canceled the contract. Mayor Daniel Lurie's office did not respond when asked whether he would pull the plug; he told a Mission Local reporter on Tuesday that "we have asked them to make sure they get their vehicles out." The contract also says the contractor "must at all times comply" with local law, including sanctuary laws, and that a violation of that compliance section is an immediate default, immigration attorney Angela Chan pointed out. Since the Nov. 2 letter, ICE has continued using the garage, Mission Local reported.