US Politics
Crane removes Hampton Inn Hilton sign at hotel accused of denying entry to ICE agents
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A crane has removed a Hilton-branded sign at a hotel in Minnesota that has been accused of denying entry to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Hampton Inn by Hilton Lakeville Minneapolis location recently made headlines after the Department of Homeland Security accused it of launching a “coordinated campaign” to refuse service to ICE agents.
The Trump administration has set its sights on Minneapolis in its ongoing immigration crackdown, which will include the deployment of around 2,000 federal agents, according to reports. A message from a Hilton email address shared by ICE on X earlier this week said that it was “not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property” and that if they were “with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.”
Hilton had explained that the hotel is “independently owned and operated,” but that its actions “were not reflective of Hilton values.” The hotel chain said in a statement Monday that the Lakeville Minneapolis location has apologized and taken “immediate action to resolve this matter.”
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But when conservative commentator Nick Sortor filmed himself going to the front desk of the Lakeville Minneapolis location and asking a staff member if he could book some rooms under DHS, the employee refused to accommodate him.
“We’re not accepting people from immigration, ICE agents, DHS, into our property,” the employee said in the video posted by Sortor on X Tuesday. When Sortor said that he thought that policy had changed, the employee said, “I just talked to the owner of the building, and he didn’t say there had been any changes.”
Hilton then released another statement Tuesday about the hotel, saying, “A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values.”
“We are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems,” Hilton said. “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.”
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Hilton is now removing its brand from the hotel. Photos were shared by political news site Alpha News on X Wednesday of the Hampton Inn by Hilton sign at the Lakeville Minneapolis location being taken apart by a truck with a crane.
ICE celebrated the sign’s removal on social media. In an X post Thursday, ICE shared a photo of the initial email refusing service to agents and wrote, “How it started,” followed by a photo of the Hilton sign removal and wrote, “How it’s going.”
The Independent has reached out to Hilton and DHS for comment.
Tensions in Minneapolis have erupted after Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by an ICE agent Wednesday.
