Letter to Katherine Lugar, President and CEO of American Hotel and Lodging Association - Protect Guests from Warrantless Immigration Sweeps

Letter

Katherine Lugar

President and Chief Executive Officer

American Hotel & Lodging Association
1250 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005

Dear Ms. Lugar:

In September, it emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had solicited lists of guests at Motel 6 hotels in Arizona for the purpose of conducting enforcement actions. We have now learned that Motel 6 locations in Washington also routinely handed over customers' personal information to federal immigration authorities, leading to the detention of at least 6 individuals. While the company's leadership has instituted a new policy prohibiting its employees from complying with warrantless requests from ICE, we write to strongly encourage your association to develop industry-wide standards to prevent similar abuses in the future.

According to local news reports, ICE agents in Arizona obtained guest information from two Phoenix-area hotels each morning at 5AM. Individuals staying at these hotels whom the agency suspected of being undocumented were then visited by agents -- in many cases without a warrant -- and subjected to questioning and possible arrest. Similarly, in Washington, six Motel 6 branches collectively provided the registry information of at least 9,000 guests to federal immigration authorities. The state Attorney General also alleges that at a hotel in Everett, Washington ICE agents regularly combed guest lists and circled individuals with Latino names.

These tactics raise a number of grave concerns, including the potential for racial profiling. We are therefore gratified that Motel 6 has taken action to ensure that its employees will no longer facilitate the random screening and harassment of hotel patrons in this manner. Unfortunately, other local and national hotel chains have yet to adopt similar policies, which raises the possibility that the privacy of guests at other locations could be similarly violated in the future.

We were pleased that your Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Relations, Rosanna Maietta, told the New York Times that "no guest information should be turned over unless law enforcement requires it." However, we also believe that your association should go further by developing and promulgating formal industry standards encouraging hotel chains to do more to protect their guests from warrantless intrusions by federal immigration authorities or other law enforcement agencies.

Thank you for your attention to this request. We look forward to working with you to safeguard the privacy of American travelers.

Sincerely,

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