The hotel chain Motel 6 routinely gave federal immigration agents guest lists with personal information that it used to make arrests, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by Washington’s attorney general.
At least six Motel 6 locations in the state provided the information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — some on a near-daily basis — without any reasonable suspicion, probable cause or search warrants, the lawsuit charges. Agents would then single out guests by their national identity, at times circling “Latino-sounding” names on the list, according to the court complaint.
At least six guests were detained at or near the motels in the state of Washington as a result of the practice, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. Four Motel 6 locations in Washington were responsible for turning over the information of more than 9,000 guests, the lawsuit alleged, a number Ferguson’s office said it expected to increase significantly as information emerged through the lawsuit.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Raiza Rehkoff, a spokeswoman for Motel 6’s parent company, G6 Hospitality, pointed to a directive the company issued in September against the practice, in response to news reports in Arizona.
“Motel 6 takes this matter very seriously, and we have and will continue to fully cooperate with the Office of the State Attorney General,” the statement said.
Filed in state Superior Court on Wednesday, Ferguson’s complaint sketches out the informal policy he said facilitated the release of the guest information at Motel 6 locations.
ICE agents, who are tasked with arresting people who are not legal residents for deportation, would be given a guest list from the hotel’s receptionist, along with a form to sign confirming the lists’ receipt. The roster included information such as guests’ driver’s license number, room number, date of birth and license plate number.
At one location, “ICE agents visited the motels early in the morning or late at night, requested the day’s guest list, circled any Latino-sounding names and returned to their vehicles.”
The guest list practice at some Motel 6 locations dates to at least 2015, according to the lawsuit, which alleges the company violated the Consumer Protection Act, as well as state laws against discrimination based on national origin. The attorney general’s office is hoping to recoup civil penalties of as much as $2,000 per guest whose rights were violated.
The attorney general’s office said it was prompted to investigate after the local news report about similar practices at Motel 6 locations in Arizona in September. The Phoenix New Times reported that ICE agents made at least 20 arrests at two Motel 6 locations in a period dating to February 2017. After the outcry sparked by the report, the company apologized and issued the directive to its more than 1,400 locations “that they are prohibited from voluntarily providing daily guest lists to ICE.”
Though the company said it was a local issue, Ferguson said his office’s investigation had shown that not to be the case.
According to the Columbian, a newspaper in the southern part of Washington, one woman believes that her father, Ramon Flores-Garcia, may have been deported because of the practice. Flores-Garcia, who had lived in the United States for about 20 years, was detained by ICE agents on Valentine’s Day last year after he was stopped near a Motel 6 location where he was staying, the newspaper reported.
The Washington Attorney General’s officecites a state Supreme Court ruling that found guest registry information was private and not subject to random searches.
ICE, which is not a party to the lawsuit, said that as a matter of practice, it does not comment on the “source of its enforcement leads.”
“The agency’s immigration enforcement actions are targeted and lead driven, prioritizing individuals who pose a risk to our communities,” said a statement distributed by spokeswoman Danielle Bennett. “It’s worth noting that hotels and motels have frequently been exploited by criminal organizations engaged in highly dangerous illegal enterprises, including human trafficking and human smuggling.”
Above all, the officials said, the Trump administration will resist efforts by the North to drive a wedge between the United States and its ally. North Korea, they said, has a long history of using such overtures to sow dissent between South Korea and the United States, particularly at times, like now, when the countries have governments with divergent politics.
The White House also reiterated that Mr. Trump would continue to defy Mr. Kim, regardless of any diplomacy underway. The press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, defended the president’s Twitter message late Tuesday about Mr. Kim in which he said, “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
People, Ms. Sanders said on Wednesday, should question Mr. Kim’s mental fitness, not Mr. Trump’s.
“Our policy with North Korea has not changed,” Ms. Sanders added. “We’re fully committed to continuing to apply maximum pressure and working with all of our partners in the region, including South Korea, who we have a better relationship with now than ever before.”
Photo
A countdown clock in Seoul noting the days that remain until the opening of the coming Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Credit
Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press
But that relationship will be tested by the opening to the North, according to officials and outside analysts. The Trump administration already has a strained relationship with South Korea’s progressive president, Moon Jae-in, who has called for dialogue with the North since his inauguration in May.
After North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in September, Mr. Trump said on Twitter, “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”
South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!
During Mr. Moon’s first visit to the White House, Mr. Trump delivered a harsh critique of South Korea’s trade surplus with the United States. Negotiating teams from the two countries are scheduled to meet on Friday in Washington to begin discussing possible changes to the five-year-old Korea Free Trade agreement, which Mr. Trump has derided as “not exactly a great deal.”
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“It’s a dilemma for the administration,” said Michael J. Green, who was the top Asia adviser to President George W. Bush.
“The default position of the United States should be to support North-South dialogue,” he said. “At the same time, they are understandably nervous about the Moon government, which has some members who are too breathless about the prospects for dialogue.”
Mr. Green said he was guardedly optimistic because the Trump administration’s strategy of imposing sanctions on North Korea had shown some signs of success, which would give South Korea confidence to stick with the United States.
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South Korea’s public, he said, also remained suspicious of the North, which he said would limit the scope of Mr. Moon’s diplomats to make overly generous concessions.
Diplomats said it was important that South Korea appear to be in lock step with the United States. That would be easier to do, they said, if the talks remain focused on relatively narrow issues, like security at the Winter Olympics.
“It is fine for the South Koreans to take the lead, but if they don’t have the U.S. behind them, they won’t get far with North Korea,” said Daniel R. Russel, a former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration. “And if the South Koreans are viewed as running off the leash, it will exacerbate tensions within the alliance.”
Photo
A South Korean official communicating this week with a North Korean officer on the Demilitarized Zone. Credit
Republic of Korea Ministry of Unification
Mr. Russel and Mr. Green both said Mr. Trump would be a wild card in the delicate détente. So far, the president has shown skepticism about the opening, although he has not dismissed it. “Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not — we will see!”
Sanctions and “other” pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not – we will see!
But the president has not hesitated to weigh in with provocative tweets if he judges that events have gone badly.
In the fall, he spent weeks praising President Xi Jinping of China for putting increased economic pressure on North Korea. Then, last month, Mr. Trump abruptly shifted his tone after reports that Chinese ships were transferring fuel to North Korea.
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“Caught RED HANDED,” he wrote on Twitter, “very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!”
Caught RED HANDED – very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump took shots at Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority, in addition to North Korea. Those tweets reverberated with both governments and could cause lasting damage. His message about his and Mr. Kim’s nuclear buttons — coming on the day that the North made contact with the South — left diplomats shaking their heads.
“This is where his Twitter account can cause an inflection point in the relationship,” Mr. Green said.
He said it would be vital for Mr. Trump’s national security and intelligence advisers to brief him on the diplomatic opening in a way that did not nurture his suspicions.
But the president’s aides have little control over outside forces, like Mr. Kim’s assertion in his New Year’s Day speech that he had a nuclear button on his desk, and that all of the mainland United States was in range of a North Korean nuclear strike.
That was the claim that provoked Mr. Trump’s tweet.
“Calling his nuclear arsenal too small is not the best way to persuade him to constrain that arsenal,” Mr. Russel noted, referring to Mr. Kim.
Referring to South Korea, Mr. Russel asked, “Who is going to bear the brunt of this taunt?”
