Motel 6 Is Reportedly Sending Its Customers' Names To ICE

At least two Motel 6 locations in Arizona are reporting their guest lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, The Phoenix New Times reports.

According to the outlet, at least 20 undocumented immigrants were arrested between February and August 2017. The report says that two hotels, both located in largely Latino areas of Phoenix, send their guest lists to ICE every morning.

"We send a report every morning to ICE — all the names of everybody that comes in," a front-desk clerk told The Phoenix New Times. "Every morning at about 5 o'clock, we do the audit and we push a button and it sends it to ICE."

Management at both locations in question directed the Times' inquiries to the corporation’s media hotline. The outlet reports that multiple phone calls over a span of several weeks were not returned, but employees at both locations "unofficially" told the outlet that it's "standard practice to share guest information with ICE."

Refinery29 has reached out to ICE's Phoenix division for comment. A representative from Motel 6 declined to provide a comment or statement to Refinery29.

Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for ICE’s Phoenix division, declined to comment on whether or not the agency receives tips from Motel 6.

“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," O'Keefe told the Times. "If hypothetically we were somewhere — if we did administratively arrest some folks — that happens all the time. We conduct targeted enforcement operations every day."

Although police need a warrant to compel hotels to turn over guest information, there is no law in place preventing hotels from volunteering it. Furthermore, hotels are not obligated to inform customers that their names will be sent to authorities, New York magazine reports.

Immigration attorney Denise Aguilar told the Times that one of her clients is currently in ICE custody along with six other undocumented immigrants, all of whom were detained at the same Motel 6 location.