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Motel 6 Has Been Calling ICE on Their Immigrant Customers

byValerie Fernandez
September 14, 2017

While the media continues to drown us with the Equifax data breach situation, it seems as though there is another company that also has their customer information leaking. However, this time it is not due to terrible passwords but instead, it seems to be intentional. The company Motel 6 has reportedly admitted to reporting guests who “appear to be immigrants” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Specifically, hotel staffers at least 2 Phoenix locations seemed to be responsible for a string of immigration arrests. The story was published last night and Motel 6 released the following statement via their Facebook and Twitter:

“This was implemented at the local level without the knowledge of senior management. When we became aware  of it last week, it was discontinued.”

At least 20 arrests were made within the months of February to August. According to reports, immigration officials are said to simply show up at the rooms of people and knock, asking to search the place without any search warrant. ICE was there quite frequently, presumably every two weeks or so. The employees at these 2 locations themselves have said that they were making calls and sharing customer information with them on a regular basis and that this was a “standard practice”.

“We send a report every morning to ICE — all the names of everybody that comes in,” an unidentified front-desk clerk explained to the New Times. “Every morning at about 5 o’clock, we do the audit and we push a button and it sends it to ICE.”

This seems to be a common thing for hotels in the Phoenix area (predominantly Latino), as Jonathan Howard, Phoenix Police Department spokesperson, said that on occasion many motels and hotels in the area have shared customer information with law enforcement officials.
Although Motel 6 did state that they stopped these actions as soon as they were aware of them, nothing has been said of the employees that have been doing this. The situation seemed to be “under investigation” but regardless, there has been nothing said about whether they will face repercussions or if the company even condemns these actions. This has angered many people and many have started a #BoycottMotel6 hashtag on Twitter, voicing their anger at the motel.

Author
Valerie Fernandez
An 18 year old political science major from Los Angeles, California. I enjoy reading, music, writing, animals, and social activism. Proud latina.
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