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A Minnesota hotel that wouldn’t allow federal immigration agents to stay there this month is apologizing and saying the refusal violated its own policies. The Department of Homeland Security had accused the global Hilton hotel chain of a “coordinated” effort to refuse service to its employees.
Hilton and local operators of the Hampton Inn Lakeville property released statements within hours apologizing and said the messages refusing to serve agents who were focused on immigration enforcement didn’t reflect their policies.
In a social media post, DHS posted screenshots of a message sent Friday from a Hilton email address saying that immigration agents would not be allowed to stay at the hotel about 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) south of Minneapolis, and that their reservation was canceled.
“When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations,” DHS said in the post, accusing Hilton Hotels of deliberately undermining and impeding law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws.
Hampton Inn locations are under the Hilton brand, but a Hilton representative said the property is independently operated. The majority of Hampton Inns are owned and operated by franchisees.
“We have been in direct contact with the hotel, and they have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies,” the statement said.
Everpeak Hospitality, the hotel operators, said in a statement that the cancellation was inconsistent with their policy.
“Everpeak Hospitality has moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all,” the company said in a statement. “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.”