On Jan. 5th, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused Hilton Hotels of coordinating an effort to deny service to its agents, sharing screenshots on the social media X. The post showed emails from Hilton associated Hampton Inn Lakeview hotel near Minneapolis, Minnesota, stating that the reservations of DHS agents would be cancelled on the basis of their immigration work.
Additionally, the emails stated that the location would not be allowing any Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other immigration agents to stay there. The post also claims that the hotel was making a deliberate effort to impede DHS from enforcing immigration law.
While neither the post nor the screenshots explicitly state whether the agents had booked the rooms on an official capacity, the emails cite a significant increase in government reservations made for the DHS. Moreover, the news comes following a projected increase in immigration law enforcement activity in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. The DHS reported on Jan. 6 that it would be launching what it described as the largest immigration enforcement operation carried out by the agency in history. They expect to deploy 2,000 federal agents and officers to perform immigration and fraud investigations in Minnesota.
While associated with Hilton, the hotel is owned and operated by the group Everpeak Hotels, which initially released a statement that the actions of that location were taken autonomously, and were “inconsistent” with its policy of “being a welcoming place for all.” Hilton also asserted the hotel was acting independently, and that they were in direct contact with Everpeak, which was working to resolve the issue and provide accommodations to the DHS agents affected.
In spite of this, Hilton would later receive allegations that the hotel was still refusing to serve DHS agents, including a video uploaded to X by an influencer in which an employee of the hotel stated it was the owner’s policy not to serve immigration agents at that time. In response to this, Hilton stated it had not been informed the policy was changed and would be taking action to remove the hotel from its systems.
