Motel 6 Workers Tipped Off Immigration Agency About Guests

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Employees at Motel 6 locations in Arizona regularly handed over to the government information that led to its hotel guests being detained and deported, the company has acknowledged.

The revelation of this practice in a report Wednesday by the Phoenix New Times drew sharp rebukes from human rights groups and an array of calls to boycott Motel 6, one of the largest hotel chains in the country.

Referring to the sharing of customer information in Arizona with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Raiza Rehkoff, a spokeswoman for G6 Hospitality, the Texas-based parent company of Motel 6, said in an email that “this was implemented at the local level without the knowledge of senior management.” G6 Hospitality is controlled by Blackstone, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

Rehkoff said that senior executives became aware of the practice only in recent days, and moved to end it.

Immigration lawyers representing people who were detained while they were staying at Motel 6 locations and were later deported from the U.S. said that they had collected evidence showing that the practice was widespread, and not limited to one state. Juan Rocha, an immigration lawyer in Arizona, said that an employee at a Motel 6 in Washington state told him of the same practice there.

“We’re looking at a situation where people with Hispanic surnames check into Motel 6, get their names reported to ICE, and a few hours later there are immigration agents knocking on the door to take them away,” Rocha said. “This is racial profiling.”

Simon Romero is a New York Times writer.