Motel 6 Agrees To Pay Millions After Giving Guest Lists To ICE

According to NPR (November 6, 2018) the hotel chain Motel 6 has agreed to pay $7.6 million to settle a class-action lawsuit after multiple Motel 6 locations gave guest lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.  Sharing those lists led to arrests and deportations of an as-yet-unknown number of hotel guests.

Officials in Washington state said that six Motel 6 locations in the Puget Sound region admitted to the guest-list sharing practice, which violates consumer protection laws. "The hotel turned over the guest list of everybody staying at the hotel. So thousands of individuals had their names turned over to ICE," Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson told NPR in January.

"And according to our interviews with employees at Motel 6, ICE agents would circle the names that looked Latino-sounding and ran those names through a database and then would detain individuals based on those random checks."

Washington state filed a lawsuit against Motel 6 that is still pending.
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So, if you stayed at a Motel 6 your registration information was provided to Federal Agents, and if your name sounded Hispanic you were subjected to an investigation by ICE to determine your status. Should law enforcement be able to run checks on a person just because of the possible origin of their name? 

 

  

 

 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.