In brief
A Minnesota hotel recently apologized for their refusal to provide accommodations to federal immigration agents, a decision they stated was against company policies. The Department of Homeland Security accused the hotel of deliberately impeding law enforcement efforts, prompting swift corrective actions from Hilton and local operators.
A Minnesota hotel that wouldn’t allow federal immigration agents to stay there this month is apologizing and saying the refusal violated its own policies. The Department of Homeland Security had accused the global Hilton hotel chain of a “coordinated” effort to refuse service to its employees.
Hilton and local operators of the Hampton Inn Lakeville property released statements within hours apologizing and said the messages refusing to serve agents who were focused on immigration enforcement didn’t reflect their policies.
In a social media post, DHS posted screenshots of a message sent Friday from a Hilton email address saying that immigration agents would not be allowed to stay at the hotel about 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) south of Minneapolis, and that their reservation was canceled.
“When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations,” DHS said in the post, accusing Hilton Hotels of deliberately undermining and impeding law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws.
Hampton Inn locations are under the Hilton brand, but a Hilton representative said the property is independently operated. The majority of Hampton Inns are owned and operated by franchisees.
“We have been in direct contact with the hotel, and they have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies,” the statement said.
Everpeak Hospitality, the hotel operators, also said in their statement that the cancellation was inconsistent with their policy of welcoming all guests. They acknowledged the need to address the situation promptly and made efforts to accommodate affected guests.
