Hilton cuts ties with Minneapolis hotel over canceled ICE reservation

Hilton Hotels is severing ties with a Minneapolis-area hotel that turned away federal immigration enforcement officers.

The move came after conservative commentator Nick Sortor posted a video in which he attempted to book rooms posing as a representative of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this. A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems,” Hilton said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Hilton is – and has always been – a welcoming place for all.  We are also engaging with all of our franchisees to reinforce the standards we ‌hold them to across our system to help ensure this does not happen again.”

”The FRONT DESK manager said he had spoken with the owner shortly before I walked in around 10:50 p.m., ‌and confirmed the ANTI-DHS POLICY REMAINED IN EFFECT,” Sortor wrote on the X social ‌media platform.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said she was glad to see Hilton Hotels “take this step.”

“Discriminatory business practices targeting” DHS “and deliberately undermining federal law enforcement are unAmerican and have real business consequences,” she wrote on X.

According to DHS, the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota – about 25 miles from Minneapolis – canceled a reservation made by law enforcement officers involved in immigration enforcement in Minnesota as the Trump administration investigates ​fraud allegations there.

A surge of some 2,000 immigration agents is deploying to Minneapolis and surrounding areas including ‌personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agents ⁠working for DHS, according to the Wall Street Journal and CBS News.

“NO ROOM AT THE INN!,” DHS said in a social media post on X. “Hilton Hotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS ‌law enforcement.”

The hotel is independently owned and operated. Everpeak Hospitality, which operates the hotel, said it “moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all.”

“We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals ‌or agencies and apologize to those impacted,” it said in the statement. “We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider.”

Screenshots DHS shared on social media appear to show the hotel operators rejecting the reservations made by enforcement agents because of their affiliation with Immigration Customs and Enforcement. DHS said the agents ‌had booked rooms using official government emails and rates.

“We ​have noticed ‌an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property,” a screenshot reads, though email addresses and names were redacted. “If you are with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.”

“Please pass on this info to your coworkers that we ‌are not allowing any immigration agents to house on our property,” the screenshot also reads.  

“This is UNACCEPTABLE,” DHS said in its social media post.

The Trump administration says it’s combating suspected fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Democratic-led Minnesota. The Biden administration also investigated fraud there, including theft from Medicaid programs, leading to dozens ​of arrests and convictions. 

Federal prosecutors have charged more than 80 people with being involved in the scheme since 2022, the majority of them U.S. citizens of Somali descent. At least 60 suspects have been convicted.

Minnesota is home to the largest population of people with Somali ancestry, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population is estimated between 60,000 and 80,000 people.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has seized on the scandal, calling out Minnesota ⁠Gov. Tim Walz, who ran against him as the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate. The president has also called out the ​Somali community in the state, at one point calling them “garbage,” in comments local officials criticized as racist and un-American.

White House Press Secretary ⁠Karoline Leavitt said in late December the administration is exploring the denaturalization of those Somali-Americans in Minnesota responsible for the fraud, a move that would seek to strip U.S. citizenship from those who illegally obtained tax dollars intended for social services.