Major hotel chains pledge not to let ICE use rooms as backup immigration detention facilities

Major hotel chains headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area pledged not to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to use its hotel rooms as backup detention centers for immigrants targeted in this weekend’s raids.

“Our hotels are not configured to be detention facilities, but to be open to guests and community members as well,” Marriott International wrote in a statement dated Thursday. “While we have no particular insights into whether the U.S. government is considering the use of hotels to aid in the situation at the border, Marriott has made the decision to decline any requests to use our hotels as detention facilities.”

Y’ALL…@MarriottIntl just sent this statement to our organizer & press: “Marriott has made the decision to decline any requests to use our hotels as detention facilities.”

THANK YOU for standing on the right side of history, @Marriott

.@ChoiceHotels YOU’RE UP. #NoHotelsForICE pic.twitter.com/ASYRadMEL5

— Sanctuary DMV (@SanctuaryDMV) July 11, 2019

Choice Hotels, a D.C.-area company that owns 11 hotel chain brands including Quality Inn, echoed Marriott’s statement, saying Thursday that it’s asked its franchised hotels to “only be used for their intended purpose.”

“We are not aware that any of our franchised hotels, all of which are independently owned and operated, are being asked to serve as detention facilities,” the company’s statement reads. “We do not believe hotels should be used in this way and will decline any requests to do so.”

Y’ALL LOOK what we got in our inbox last night!

Thank you @ChoiceHotels. An important first step. How will you ensure your franchisees uphold this commitment? We know that franchisors can and do impose all sorts of rules and requirements on individual franchisees. Will you? pic.twitter.com/uqQZOjM8UD

— Sanctuary DMV (@SanctuaryDMV) July 12, 2019

The hotels’ statements come after local activist groups including Sanctuary DMV delivered a petition with more than 120,000 signatures to the companies’ local headquarters, the organization tweeted.

Sanctuary DMV is also calling on other national hotel chains, including Hilton, Motel 6 and Best Western, to make similar announcements ahead of the planned raids, which President Trump delayed weeks ago and were set to take place in 10 major cities and target up to 2,000 immigrants.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.