Motel 6 receives backlash for response to immigration report

Motel 6 isn’t earning positive PR for its response to being thrust in the spotlight.

The chain recently responded to allegations that workers at one of its Phoenix-area locations were alerting immigration officials when undocumented guests were staying there.

The Phoenix New Times reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained Manuel Rodriguez-Juarez at the Motel 6 in June. The site further reports that 20 such arrests have been made at the Motel 6, along with another location, between February and August.

The article implied (and sources suggested) that motel employees have been sending information to ICE when they suspect that undocumented immigrants have checked in. Rodriguez-Juarez reportedly gave his Mexican voter ID card as identification when checking in.

ICE did not confirm to the New Times whether it had received the tips from Motel 6 staff, but employees spilled the beans.

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