Last month Hilton came under fire for housing children in the process of being deported by the United States. The chain told hotels they shouldn’t accept these bookings.
Now we learn that children were being held in even more Hilton, Marriott, and Choice hotels than we thought.
Three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Phoenix and two Texas cities, El Paso and McAllen, comprise the majority of the stays up to the end of July, according to the data published Friday in federal court filings. …A Homewood Suites in San Antonio held 12 children and an Embassy Suites in San Antonio held 10. A DoubleTree hotel in Houston was also used twice.
…The Courtyard by Marriott hotel near the El Paso airport was used to detain 55 children. …A TownePlace Suites in Alexandria, Louisiana, was used for 17 children. Alexandria is a major hub for deportation flights operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Another 13 children total were detained at four other Marriott properties in San Antonio and McAllen, Texas.
…A Comfort Suites hotel in Alexandria was used 12 times.
At least 660 children have been held in hotels enroute to deportation. Most were unaccompanied by parents. According to the government “it cannot allow children to stay in the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
- The justification appears to presume that the U.S. is Covid-free, and is trying to keep the virus out of the country so that it doesn’t spread here.
- The children are already in the United States but as long as they leave they can’t spread Covid-19, it seems?
- The government could test the children and provide health care if needed, by the way the hotels lack the services that detention centers have.
Chains say the stays shouldn’t be happening but a Marriott spokesperson says they can be easily tricked by online travel agency sites. Even when it comes to child separation and deportation, Marriott prefers book direct.
Marriott, Hilton, and Choice hotels last year refused to serve as detention centers to temporarily house people picked up in immigration raids. However the Marriott Marquis Chicago hosted the Customs and Border Protection annual trade symposium and featuring the acting Secretary of Homeland Security and acting Customs and Border Protection commissioner.
Marriott also voiced no public concerns when the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh was used as a detention facility by the government of Saudi Arabia. In fact it was used for torture and even reportedly murder.
Two years ago it was airlines objecting to being used by the federal government to deport kids though Delta ‘applauded the administration’ for its efforts to unite immigrant children with their parents (sic).
Will children forced to stay at a Marriott immigration detention center by government mandate receive elite credit for their hundreds of room nights? If so, should we expect to see an increase in young Marriott Bonvoy™ Ambassador Elite members in 2021?
Maybe when should just house them in cages like the previous administration did.
@Ken A – it won’t matter since Marriott laid off so many Ambassador agents.
Would they prefer these illegal alien youths be put up in a tent before deportation? I think this is a perfectly fair accommodation.
I don’t see a problem with this. If these hotel chains refuse to house these children, does anyone think the government is going to say, “oh well, we will have to change your policy”? The kids will just be housed somewhere else—probably not as nice.
Zero cares or interest given. Illegals are criminals. They have no rights. Immigrate legally or accept whatever we want to do to you.
De facto black and gray detention sites should always be considered problematic by nature, regardless of which persons are being held in them by the relevant state actors or their agents.
Here we are, the U.S. taxpayers paying for accommodations at facilities many of us cannot afford and some want to make an issue of it. JH above nails it. That said, next up is yet another boycott of these brands and then their Executives roll over to the “shake down tactics” and then what? Back to the tents also noted above. Maybe we should move the U.S citizens, without additional charge, into these “digs” and put the ILLEGALS in the cheaper hotels. Better still, just pack them right back over the border they came across and save the cost of housing them anywhere!
Now the hotels are being Mandated by local Mayors to house the Homeless–and then have to clean up the mess they leave behind,,,,
@dot. When homeless people are mandated by local mayors to stay at Marriott property like a Ritz-Carlton or a J.W. Marriott hotel, they compete with adolescents forced to stay in a Marriott immigration detention center while earning elite Marriott Bonvoy™ Ambassador status. Accordingly, lower-valued customers like Marriott Bonvoy™ Titanium or Platinum Elite guests may become no longer worthy to receive an enhanced room upgrade or late checkout benefit because a homeless guest or a 12-year-old has earned a higher Bonvoy Elite status.
Better than cages right?
Tough crowd, considering these kids are appearing at the border and asking for asylum in a completely legal manner, and the government is using coronavirus as an excuse to turn them back into another country and let them loose. Also, they’re kids.
Humans have rights being an illegal without citizenship or papers. Its not always about money.
treated better than the homeless. the simple solution is for congress [ democrats] to change the law to immediate deportation for all ILLEGAL ALIENS with lifetime bans on citizen ship! going bach to the LAST AMNESTY! but the AMERICAN PEOPLE MUST want this and vote for it!