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You are here: Home / Giving you away like motel matches

Giving you away like motel matches

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This is fucked up:

The front-desk clerk told him that he needed to show identification in order to reserve a room. Rodriguez-Juarez handed over the only thing he had — a Mexican voter ID card.

Six hours later, he was lying on the bed, watching TV, when he heard a knock at the door.

He opened it. Three agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were waiting for him.

[…]

A Phoenix New Times review of court records found that between February and August, ICE agents made at least 20 arrests at Motel 6s, showing up roughly every two weeks.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  2. 2.

    Kryptik

    Fucked up, unconscionable, and cruel. Thus, also totally in line with the kind of America that Trump & co have enabled and exploited.

    This is precisely the future that your Jeff Sessions, Kris Kobaches, Steve Kings, and of course Donald Trumps want: immigrants living in terror, because apparently that’s the only way the Real, God-Fearing (White) Americans can ever sleep well at night. If brown people aren’t persecuted in this country, then my god, it could be them!

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    Management at both Motel 6 locations directed questions to the corporation’s media hotline. Repeated calls over a period of several weeks were not returned.

    Unofficially, though, employees at both locations said it was standard practice to share guest information with ICE.

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

    Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for ICE’s Phoenix division, declined to comment on whether the agency is in the habit of reviewing hotel guest lists, or investigating tips sent in by Motel 6 employees.

    “I wouldn’t be able to confirm how we are getting our information. Those are investigative techniques that we wouldn’t be able to talk about,” she said.

    “If hypothetically we were somewhere — if we did administratively arrest some folks — that happens all the time. We conduct targeted enforcement operations every day.”

    Seems unusually petty just to steal $45 room payments from guests.

    So I’m gonna go with them being racist fuckheads.

  5. 5.

    geg6

    Not that I ever have reason to stay at a Motel 6, but this pretty much guarantees that should that be the only shelter available, I’ll be sleeping in my car.

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    Andy Slavitt ✔ @ASlavitt
    JUST OUT: Here’s a summary of the Graham-Cassidy repeal. Yes, it’s that bad.

    John Cole is not going to be a merry old soul.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    Revolting. I find the company’s muted response interesting. If this had happened at a more upscale place, I suspect the corporate PR flacks would have disavowed their local employees’ actions, maybe fired or at least vowed to retrain people and issued statements making it clear they don’t profile guests. Maybe Motel 6 figures their customer base won’t mind?

  9. 9.

    hellslittlestangel

    That “we’ll leave the light on for you” slogan will have to be replaced. Maybe “brown people check in but they don’t check out” would be more suitable?

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    BTW, Hillary Clinton is going to be on Maddow’s show tonight. Gonna have to pop up some kettle corn for that.

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    In your eyes there is a vacancy
    And you know what I’ll do
    When the light outside changes from red to blue

    Red and blue lights, alright. Just ducky, is there a bounty of twenty bucks/Mexican?

  15. 15.

    Booger

    Well I certainly hope this becomes a PR nightmare for Motel 6. What’s Spicer doing? Doesn’t he need a gig?

  16. 16.

    Patricia Kayden

    @geg6: Me too. This is disgusting. Makes you wonder how low this administration is willing to go in its demonization of Brown and Black people.

  18. 18.

    Laura

    So the call to ICE is after the payment processes. Motel 6 collaborates with the Gestapo, what do they get in return -in addition to that feeling of smug superiority?

  19. 19.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yes, I set the dvr for it just in case Lovey and Koda decide that would be the perfect moment to desperately need to stroll through the yard one last time before bed.

  22. 22.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Laura:

    “They have heard (no telling how valid the info is) that ICE is paying $200 per person for the front-desk clerk to report,” she wrote in an email.

    According to an article I found on JoeMyGod, there was speculation that they got paid for each arrest.

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Makes you wonder how low this administration is willing to go in its demonization of Brown and Black people.

    The problem with even asking this question is that the other side then treats it as a challenge.

  25. 25.

    Hoodie

    Besides being handmaidens of the Trumpenstaatzpolizei, it’s a stupid business decision considering the likely demographic of motel6 customers, particularly in certain parts of the country. Steve Mnuchin ain’t stayin there.

  26. 26.

    randy khan

    @Laura:

    The room opens up in case someone else comes by.

    But, wow, this is pretty awful. (Not to mention, of course, that there are lots of people who only have foreign ID who are not subject to deportation. And one wonders if this happens to people named, oh, Klaus Schmidt or Francoise DePuy.)

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    @Doug!:
    Yup, a lot packed into a brief few verses. My stab at it is the tale of somebody who was shot while canoodling with a girl at a motel, but it’s murky enough that he could be the shooter, the girl could be a prostitute and Sam is her pimp.

    i.e., typical Elvis.

  32. 32.

    Aleta

    How to deep-six your brand

    (Maybe this has changed, but I don’t think they’ve apologized, just said ‘not our company’s fault.’)

  34. 34.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Can you blame them? They’re taking motel rooms away from hard working whites.

  35. 35.

    The Moar You Know

    It sounds like it’s just a couple hotels doing it. I think it’s a franchise.

    @Doug!: The article specifically states that the Motel 6 in question is corporate owned, not a franchise.

    It’s company policy. Which is unbelievable. I don’t believe for a second that it’s rogue employees.

  37. 37.

    germy

    @Doug!: I saw Costello at Radio City Music Hall in the mid-’80s. Opening act was Nick Lowe. One of the best shows I’d ever seen.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @Aleta:

    (Maybe this has changed, but I don’t think they’ve apologized, just said ‘not our company’s fault.’)

    Update: After publication of this story, Motel 6 acknowledged they’d been sharing guest information with ICE, but said that the policy had been implemented on the local level without the knowledge of senior management and was being discontinued.

    Mistakes were made.

    Who could have known?

    We must move on.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I just shot off an email to NPR’s ombudsman:

    I am extremely disturbed to learn that Motel 6 is, apparently as a matter of policy, reporting its undocumented guests to ICE and colluding in the arrests and potential deportation of these people.

    Because Tom Bodett, a frequent panellist on “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me,” is so closely associated with Motel 6 as a long-time spokesman, I am writing to ask that unless and until he resigns his position with the chain and publicly denounces and repudiates Motel 6’s actions, NPR no longer gives Mr Bodett any kind of platform.

    I realise, of course, that he didn’t create this inhumane, discriminatory, and profoundly unAmerican policy. In private, he may very well disapprove of it. But precisely BECAUSE Tom Bodett and Motel 6 are so tightly linked in the public mind, it is imperative that he breaks with the company and that he does so with as big a splash of publicity as possible.

    Until that happens — or, alternatively, until “Wait Wait…” announces that they are severing ties with Mr Bodett — NPR will have gained an angry and disappointed ex-listener.

    Thank you.

  44. 44.

    TenguPhule

    After we published a story Wednesday revealing that Motel 6 locations in Phoenix seemed to be collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the internet pretty much exploded.

    #BoycottMotel6 started trending. The ACLU demanded answers. People called on Tom Bodett to respond. Well-known Latino cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz sketched a “Motel 6 Immigration Detention Camp.” An otherwise innocuous post about fall foliage on the company’s Facebook page attracted hundreds of angry comments. Motel 6 even got yelled at by a coleslaw fan account.

    Dear gods, there’s a fan account on Facebook for coleslaw.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    Years ago (early 90s), I stayed a Motel 6 in Atlanta and another one in Baltimore while interviewing for jobs. I think my mom had coupons or something. Anyhoo, the Atlanta one was normal — diverse staff, no overt racism.

    But in Baltimore, the front desk clerk said the most racist thing anyone representing a business has ever said to me. I’d asked her about the neighborhood, and she said, “It’s fine if you don’t mind living with niggers.”

    I was so taken aback I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I wish I’d said something like, “Good — that would mean there are fewer ignorant, racist shitheads like you.” But honestly, I was too shocked to respond.

  49. 49.

    Timurid

    @TenguPhule:

    Seems unusually petty just to steal $45 room payments from guests.
    So I’m gonna go with them being racist fuckheads.

    Por que no los dos?

  50. 50.

    germy

    @randy khan: This comment:

    And will you be yukking it up about this on @waitwait this weekend? Passing the buck down to ‘the local level’ is a sign of poor management

    almost makes me want to tune in and listen to see if they talk about it. I can’t stand those radio game shows, but my wife often listens. Should be interesting.

  52. 52.

    d58826

    I can’t find the link but was just reading that when Trump visited Naples Fla as part of his Hurricane tour, an oddly large number of the crowd were wearing MAGA hats and Trump T-shirts. Would it be politically incorrect to wonder if the event was actually a staged political event?

  53. 53.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @TenguPhule:
    We already knew it would be horrible. Since nobody was relying on McCain to vote against it anyway, do we have any indication there are 50 votes to pass it? There were three hard ‘no’s on any variation of gutting Medicaid last time. Has McConnell said he wants to try this? Or are Graham just farting on-camera because the news will let them do it?

  55. 55.

    Aleta

    @germy: Yes, that statement last night is my point. No apology. Just “local level, not our company.” This had been going on for awhile before the press. They need to take more responsibility than this. Are they looking into how it happened? Will they fire whoever teamed up with ICE and ignored (what I hope was) company policy to protect the privacy of their guests? Will they ask that ICE be accountable for requesting or accepting the guest lists?

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    @d58826: I’m convinced of it. Same thing happened during his drive-by in Houston when he commented on the “great turnout.” There were supposed hurricane-ravaged people with remarkably unweathered campaign swag. Part of the con job.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    do we have any indication there are 50 votes to pass it?

    I have no idea, but Andy Slavitt seems to think its serious enough.

    Wouldn’t hurt to make some calls anyway.

  62. 62.

    Hal

    @TenguPhule:

    “I wouldn’t be able to confirm how we are getting our information. Those are investigative techniques that we wouldn’t be able to talk about,” she said.

    “If hypothetically we were somewhere — if we did administratively arrest some folks — that happens all the time. We conduct targeted enforcement operations every day.”

    Guests staying at Motel 6 have no right to know their personal information is being sent to ICE? This isn’t an investigative technique, it’s a back door operation they’ve setup with Motel 6 that I’m sure would be disturbing to many of it’s customers, regardless of where they’re coming from.

  63. 63.

    gvg

    I read that hotel employee as saying they reported the personal identifying info on ALL guests every day not just the immigrants. I find that appalling too. there is enough identity theft that it should never be the policy of any company to be sharing a lot of data without a specific warrant, not to mention I don’t trust the accuracy of ICE. it’s a crazy policy.
    Wrong too of course and bigoted, but so extreme that it will be impacting random non illegal non immigrants.

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Rand Paul said no already and somebody else (Hatch?) blew it a raspberry too.

    Rand Paul also thinks refusal implies consent.

    Now if Hatch is a no, that’s probably more reassuring. Probably.

  65. 65.

    Boatboy_srq

    @geg6: Motel 6 is Accor. Which means this also hits Red Roof, Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel, Pullman and Raffles establishments. That won’t matter so very much in the US, but there’s a lot of European business that might get impacted if the word gets out. It also means, though, that calls to corporate offices by anyone outside WaPo, FTFNYT, or Big TV News will almost certainly not get returned anyway.

  70. 70.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I think Hatch’s comment was along the lines of there is absolutely no way this will pass and most of us don’t even want to have another fucking vote on this fucking thing.

    Check out the new thread up top. Looks like it is a serious threat after all.

  71. 71.

    Aleta

    Will Motel-6 put their policy of (as they’re claiming) non-cooperation with ICE without a warrant, down in writing in each franchise contract? And include in the contract a reference to the laws that apply to policing and to the privacy of all their guests?

  72. 72.

    Tokyokie

    Some undocumented folks have valid driver’s U.S. licenses. Was Motel 6 tipping off ICE as to any guests who looked suspicious as well? Or was ICE busting all those with Hispanic surnames?

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @Tokyokie:

    Was Motel 6 tipping off ICE as to any guests who looked suspicious as well? Or was ICE busting all those with Hispanic surnames?

    Yes.

  75. 75.

    Beezus

    HILTON owns the Motel 6 brand – time for a big time BOYCOTT. According to the article, every morning the motel provides ICE a complete list of all guests…

  76. 76.

    Corner Stone

    @Betty Cracker: I am also looking forward to this, very much. I would be looking forward about 1000X more if it were with Joy Reid. Rachel is such a soft interviewer I don’t think we’re going to get too much from HRC on this. Probably a summary of things we have already heard.
    I think Joy would have HRC pounding the table and yelling, “You’re god damned right I think Trump ordered the Code Red!”

  81. 81.

    TenguPhule

    A South Korean delegation asks Washington for nuclear weapons

    A senior delegation of South Korean lawmakers is in town making the case to the Trump administration and Congress that such a move is needed to confront North Korea’s growing nuclear capability and place more pressure on China.

    “We are here to ask for redeployment of tactical nuclear warheads in South Korea,” Lee Cheol Woo, the head of the intelligence committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, told me Thursday morning.

    Lee is heading a delegation of members of the Liberty Korea Party, the opposition to President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party. He is also the chairman of the assembly’s special committee for nuclear crisis response.

    I do not like where this is going.

  82. 82.

    Davebo

    @TenguPhule:

    Ironically CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest operator of private detention facilities utilized by ICE got their start by purchasing a crap hotel in N. Houston and converting it temporarily to a detention facility for aliens awaiting deportation.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    “I love South Korea. South Koreans are the best, and they’re my friends. So when they ask me for a favor I say yes to my best friends, the South Koreans. Great country, great people, believe me.”

    Something like that?

  86. 86.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @TenguPhule:

    “We are here to ask for redeployment of tactical nuclear warheads in South Korea,” Lee Cheol Woo, the head of the intelligence committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, told me Thursday morning.

    Uhhhhh… terrible idea?

    Which means, naturally, Drumpf will fall in love w/ it…

  87. 87.

    Davebo

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: And because they are cheap, Motel 6 is popular among contracting companies and others to house employees during projects outside their normal area of operations.

    This can’t bode well for that market demographic.

  88. 88.

    John Carter

    You know, if you say “ICE ICE” real fast a couple times, you can almost see the black uniform, boots and shirts doing a similar job!
    Seems legit!

  89. 89.

    joel hanes

    @germy:

    If you think that there’s any relationship between what company spox say and the truth,
    I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

    Every company I have worked for, even the very good ones, have obligated their spokespersons to utter palpable lies as part of “corporate communications”.

  91. 91.

    Mike G

    @TenguPhule:

    Unless they’ve changed recently, all Motel 6s are corporate owned.

    With the rigid standardization at these places, I find it difficult to believe that two locations customized their software to send the guest list to ICE with one click. This was a function designed and approved by corporate HQ.

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