A Minnesota hotel that is not allowing federal immigration agents to stay there this month is apologizing, saying the denial violates its own policies. The Department of Homeland Security had accused the global Hilton hotel chain of a “coordinated” effort to deny services to its employees.
Hilton and local operators of the Hampton Inn Lakeville property released statements within hours apologizing and saying the messages refusing to serve agents focused on immigration enforcement did not reflect their policies.
In a social media post, DHS posted screenshots of a message sent Friday from a Hilton email address stating that immigration agents were not allowed to stay at the hotel, about 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) south of Minneapolis, and that their reservation had been canceled.
“When agents attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously canceled their reservations,” DHS said in the post, which accused Hilton Hotels of deliberately undermining and obstructing law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws.
Hampton Inn locations are under the Hilton brand, but a Hilton representative said the property is independently managed. 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 their team’s actions, which were not in accordance with their policies,” the statement said.
Everpeak Hospitality, the hotel operators, said in a statement that the cancellation violated their policies.
“Everpeak Hospitality took swift action to address this issue as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all,” the company said in a statement. “We are in contact with affected guests to ensure they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individual or entity and apologize to those affected.”
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