Jan. 6, 2026
DHS (and MAGA) Pounce on Hilton Hotels after ICE Agents Denied Rooms
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed The Department of Homeland Security put out a series of posts, one showing screenshots of two emails cancelling reservations of known ICE agents. Even though Hilton quickly distanced itself from the hotel chain in question and apologized along with the hotel’s management company, Hilton stock fell 2.5% on Monday. DHS used incendiary language in its posts, saying Hilton was siding with rapists and murderers and conservative pundits quickly took advantage of the situation on social media calling for a boycott of Hilton hotels and spreading misinformation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:11
Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: It is Tuesday, January sixth and the White House. Well, they got their guy in Venezuela, they got Moduro. Now they have a new target, Hilton Hotels and with that, welcome.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: To this episode of Amy A. TJ. Rhoads.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: I knew this story was gonna go crazy because Maga got one now and it was handed to a molti platter by Hilton Hotels. I couldn't believe how this story went crazy. Refuse to allow ice agents to stay in a hotel and now this could absolutely hurt the bottom line of an international hotel chain.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: It already has hurt the bottom line of an international hotel chain based on one independent franchise outside of Minneapolis. Were talking about a Hampton Inn in the Minneapolis area, but DHS posted this on x This is what started this entire firestorm. No room at the end at Hilton Hotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to refuse service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously canceled their reservations.
00:01:25
Speaker 4: This is unacceptable.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: Why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS law enforcement from their mission to enforce our nation's immigration laws.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: I hate, I hate that we do this. This is awful on all I hate that. You know what, It didn't hit me until you just read. I've read that myself.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: That is awful.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, come on, you use Okay, we need to explain what the story is and then maybe you'll be outraged, because the outrage is our only reaction. They just fired up their whole base. That post is BS. Okay, it is this hotel. I think what they did is BS. But then we compounded by putting this out there. Read that second and start from the top again.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: This is at all caps, no room at the inn exclamation.
00:02:16
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, that's clever. I'll give you that.
00:02:18
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: At Hilton Hotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis.
00:02:24
Speaker 4: Stop not true. Not it's not true.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: And it wasn't even Hilton actually, and we'll get into that, but go ahead.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: To refuse service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels malicious canceled their reservations. This is unacceptable all caps. And here is the real sendinary part. Why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS.
00:02:59
Speaker 4: Law enforce from their mission to enforce our nations.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: And that's propaganda and it sends a message to other folk. You're just riling people up for no reason, for no reason. So to explain what happened here, Yes, as you all have seen the news and we've talked about here plenty, there is an increased law enforcement presence in Minnesota right now, just in general. There's the fraud investigation going on, but also a lot of crackdown with ICE agents, so they have been flooding that area for the most part.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: Some agents tried to book a hotel.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: Lakeville, Lakeville, Yes, Hampton's Hampton in Lakeville, Yes.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: All right, try to book some rooms. Their reservations end up getting canceled. Now Roades, this is legit, and I think this is crazy. This email that's been put out from some representative from Hampton telling these ICE agents they're getting canceled.
00:03:51
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: So the Department of Homeland Security, under their very clever social media post by the way the ICE account on x also, Hey Hilton Hotels, why did your team in Minneapolis cancel our federal law enforcement officer and agent's reservations?
00:04:05
Speaker 4: Like very snarkily.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: So they then put these photos like screenshots of two separate emails. The first one is this email is in regards to the reservation you made with the Hampton in Lakeville property. We have noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS, and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property. If you are with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.
00:04:34
Speaker 1: Okay, that's I think.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: If they that is legit, and it's been acknowledged that that is legit, I think that's wrong. I do think it's wrong. If they have their reasons for it, I will listen and I will concede. But there have been protests at some of these hotels in the area, and maybe they just don't want that heat, and that's fine, but I do actually think it's wrong to deny a hotel room. We could talk about legalities here in a minute, but I do I think that's wrong.
00:05:02
Speaker 3: I agree, and also there was a second email put up that said, after further investigation online, we have found information about immigration work connected with your name, and we will be canceling your upcoming reservation.
00:05:14
Speaker 4: So that even sounds.
00:05:15
Speaker 3: Like someone googled someone's name to find out if they were a federal agent.
00:05:19
Speaker 4: That's also problematic.
00:05:20
Speaker 3: It is and should be pointed out that back in twenty twenty, in Trump's first administration, Hilton did come out and say that they were against it was against their policy to have migrants or children being held in their hotels. They said, we are not a prison. We do not condone incarcerating people in our hotels. So perhaps I'm just wondering if that occurrence back in twenty twenty might have prompted the overreaction perhaps by DHS to put this all out publicly, because this isn't the first time that they have had some sort of issue with Hilton, or Hilton had an issue with what they were doing.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you say, possibly the reaction of DHS could possibly inform the reaction of this hotel as well, thinking back and thinking, maybe there's some stuff that'll be going on in the hotel we don't like. Fine, I think so far the story. It makes sense and is legit, and I think it's wrong what the hotel did. But why can cooler heads never prevail to make a phone call to reach out because they had one here? I think this is one where the administration you actually got one. You're actually in the right, and I think majority of people would be on your side. And they know it, and they took advantage of it.
00:06:36
Speaker 4: They politicized it.
00:06:37
Speaker 1: They did when they were right.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: I can't even I can't argue with the administration that yes, these guys shouldn't have gotten reservations, not at all. I can't. But then the administration turns around. It makes me feel bad about them being right.
00:06:51
Speaker 4: Because of how they handled it.
00:06:53
Speaker 3: And look Hilton. The reaction from Hilton came quickly. It was swift. We should read their statements because they first of all, distance there's one from Hilton itself, and then there's one from the hotel management company that oversees this particular property.
00:07:09
Speaker 4: So Hilton said this, this.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: Hotel is independently owned and operated for sentence, and these actions were not reflective of Hilton values. We have been in direct contact with the hotel. They have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies. They have taken immediate action to resolve this matter and are contacting impacted guests to ensure that they are accommodated.
00:07:33
Speaker 4: That was the right response.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: Yes, it was the only one so far, so good.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: Yes, and the hotel management company said this. We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure that they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted. We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider. All good, right, And yet Hilton shares fell two point five percent on Monday. And if you look on social media and you see what conservative pundits are putting out there and how Americans are reacting, you'll understand why there are calls for full boycotts. And there is outrage, outrage everywhere about what happened. And so even the Google reviews people are calling them an American giving them one stars. You know, people go do that to try and make the hotel chain actually actually suffer.
00:08:34
Speaker 2: There's there's a word for that that they do they when they flood of the reviews.
00:08:39
Speaker 1: There's a something this is a thing I cannot.
00:08:42
Speaker 4: Remember the verb that I do not know.
00:08:44
Speaker 3: But like Alex Jones puts out treason alert in all caps treason alert, Hilton Hotels cancel reservations for ice agents. This hotel chain has issued a statement publicly citing with illegal alien invaders, rapists and murderers. They did not issue a statement publicly sighting with any of that. They actually issued a statement apologizing. See all of this misinformation is so frustrating. And then from what he says, people didn't read the story, they didn't listen or go further in past the headline. And then they see Alex Jones say that Hilton has now issued a statement sighting with rapist and murderers.
00:09:25
Speaker 4: And then you have people.
00:09:26
Speaker 3: Calling for boycott's, drop the hammer on them, boycott them.
00:09:30
Speaker 4: This is all on X.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: I am genuinely sad about this story. Just another example of where we are in this country and how we fire each other up, we make sure we stay divided and cooler heads leadership just doesn't prevail. There's no reason, I don't know, somebody should get to the bottom of it, and I'm curious, and I think the hotel was wrong, but robes a mistake even if it was completely intentional, and whoever had malicious intent, this team, that local thing, it becomes an international hotel chain, is actually siding with murderers and rapists. We support murders and rapists more than we support our own law enforcement. Is an absurd thing to allege based on this. I just that makes me sad. And there are people that promote this, and if I can, we can encourage. We do it all the time on our podcast road. We can encourage anybody to just take a beat. Don't believe a headline. Please learn for yourself, because you end up making yourself stupid. If you just believe in Alex Jones headline, if you just believe Amy and TJ podcast headline, did dive into it a little yourself before you get outraged and go out there start spewing at your family gathering or at work misinformation that you're so passionate and outraged about that's completely false. This makes me so damn sad. I was wanted to do this update. Now we're gotten into it and we're talking, I am so sad. About this is awful.
00:11:12
Speaker 3: And what you're saying is you've got you've got one one person, maybe even responsible.
00:11:19
Speaker 4: I don't know how many employees.
00:11:20
Speaker 3: Were involved in writing those emails, but it could just be one person. And now and there's a little bit of truth, right, There is a lot of truth to some of the headlines. So that's the problem with these types of stories, because there is something that happened that needs to be addressed. But it's so I shouldn't. I don't want to minimize what those folks felt like when they were turned away or when they got their cancelation. But it was an isolated hotel, specific hotel, not even a chain, just one hotel and maybe even one employee.
00:11:55
Speaker 4: And now this.
00:11:56
Speaker 3: Huge firestorm has erupted, and if we can all just take a breath and get some perspective and give each other a little bit of grace. People make mistakes and apologies were immediately handed out, and it's not good enough. And we want to be able to say you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy, and you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy.
00:12:19
Speaker 4: That's the problem.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Now I feel stupid because we know what this is about. This is people trying to get audiences, trying to get followers. You play into people's greatest fears, and you just you beat it into the ground. You just beat it. You scare these immigrants. Look who's hurting you. You scared these people. You're not happy with your job, you lost your job. Look who's taking it these immigrants, And he's rapists. And you're playing on people's fears and working people up instead of bringing people together. And that I am desperate for leadership in this country. This was such an easy moment to be the bigger person. DHS. You want to call them first, you want to look into this first. No, because that doesn't help us politically. You know what helps to get everybody worked up? Say that this hotel chain that you have no chance of having even staying in the penthouse of one of their places, you can't even you can't afford, so you certainly can't understand the finances and how rich these people are. See what these rich people are doing to you. They're kicking out the agents who are trying to keep you safe. Jesus Crobs, Yep, that's just politics. I'm just begging everybody. Nobody is gonna change in DC and how this goes. But we have to do better about these stories, behave and to not just get outraged because Alex Jones tells you to in the headline exactly. So I did not expect to get worked up about this one. Well, you just pissed me off. But stay here, folks, when we come back, I'm gonna calm down. But also, this move they made, is it even legal? Is their precedent for something like this happening before?
00:13:58
Speaker 1: Stay here? Okay?
00:14:10
Speaker 2: We continue here on Amy and a much calmer TJ. This story is mad. This is one robes where I always think, Wow, there was an opportunity to show something, to showcase different sides coming together and having a good outcome. Could you imagine there being a press conference out there, the owners of the hotel and the ICE agents standing together and doing something that shows the rest of the country it's okay to disagree but still work together. It's okay, Now, that's not what happened, I said, a calmer TJ. Why don't you take it?
00:14:40
Speaker 3: Well, we were talking about whether or not it's even legal for a hotel chain to refuse to accommodate a guest, and from what I could find online, and I'm with several law sites where actually there are lawyers who represent hotel chains giving them advice and what the law says. And here is what I got. Hotels can legally turn away guests for legitimate reasons such as over capacity, failure to comply with hotel policies, inability to pay, or what they call high risk tenants.
00:15:13
Speaker 4: Also, you can turn someone.
00:15:15
Speaker 3: Away if the safety if there's a safety issue, or if a guest behavior ist is deemed likely to disrupt the peace and comfort of other patrons or pose a risk to the staff.
00:15:25
Speaker 4: You mentioned the protests.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: This is happening outside of hotels where they are actually making loud noises to try and make sure they can't sleep, just to be completely disruptive. And these protests are happening specifically in the Minneapolis area. So I wonder if there was that going on outside this hotel. I don't know that it was, but I feel like there's enough gray area in that speak legal speak, that you could probably be justified in saying we don't sorry, but we're not allowing ice agents right now.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: Well that's not a fight you would want to know, but that was your point.
00:16:00
Speaker 3: They have some legal there is some, there is some, And you mentioned precedent in terms of the Supreme Court, because we remember it was a few years ago where you had a bakery I believe, who didn't want to bake a cake for an LGBTQ plus couple, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court did ultimately say that because it violated that baker, that baker's or that that that owner's religious beliefs, that they had the right to refuse service. So this has been questioned and challenged before in different ways.
00:16:33
Speaker 4: And so it's look, legally can be one thing.
00:16:36
Speaker 3: When you're going to get a financial hit and boycotts are being called, you have to do damage control on a whole other level. It doesn't matter if you could even say the laws on your side. You have a PR problem, a major PR problem right now.
00:16:48
Speaker 2: Again, it's it's it's the Hampton Inn in Lakeville. This isn't the Ritz in Half Moon Bay. I mean, it's it's not necessary.
00:16:57
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just I.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: Mean, Hilton runs nine thousand hotels around the world this and most of them, by the way, are independently owned. Most of them are franchised.
00:17:08
Speaker 4: Out. So it isn't Hilton, so to speak, but.
00:17:11
Speaker 3: It's still under They has their name and it's under their umbrella, and so they still have to take some responsibility.
00:17:17
Speaker 4: But it's just the perspective.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: Yes, please one Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota, with a nine thousand plus hotel chain around the world.
00:17:31
Speaker 1: I again ropes.
00:17:32
Speaker 2: We just this isn't a story where you need to necessarily take a take a side and be outraged. This is an opportunity for us to have a conversation about something. And we always always say, you've got to support these guys out there doing a job that they're ordered to do, and you can't be mad at the ICE agents for carrying out their jobs. Plenty of people are mad at them, but these instructions are.
00:17:55
Speaker 4: Not They're following orders.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: What they're doing, what they're supposed to do and like it, love it, hated, but you just can't personally take it out necessarily on these guys hotel. I can understand, what if it's disturbing the other guests, Maybe their bottom line is being impacted by having so many ICE agents there because other people want to stake Maybe that's the case, But I just don't care. All I care about here is admitting we made a mistake. This is how it happened, It shouldn't have been done. The employee that did it, This is what's happening to that person. We are retraining. We are dada da and just say it and move on. DHS putting it out. I'm okay putting it out, but when you're getting people in this heated political climate worked up to say that an international chain is supporting rapists and murderers, you put a target on their backs at every one of those nine thousand locations for reasons that most people aren't going to investigate. They just saw the DHS official Twitter account putting that out there and that's all they read. So we just folks, We plead with you, please please take a beat when you see something like this come up, and don't let outrage be your immediate response before you look into these things.
00:19:09
Speaker 1: And this is a sad one. I'm sorry even suggest that we.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: Do, but it's an important one because I think this is exactly how we should be talking about these types of stories. Yes, it's our job to report on what happened, but I think it's also important to give the perspective that sometimes is missing in a lot of these stories, and certainly you don't get it in a headline. And when you read the comments, you can see the people who actually read the article and people who just read the headline, and there is a difference.
00:19:39
Speaker 2: Don't be the latter, is all we're trying to say, folks read beyond the headline. And with that we always appreciate you listening to us on behalf of my dear Amy Robot. I am a much calmer dj Olms now talk
Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: It is Tuesday, January sixth and the White House. Well, they got their guy in Venezuela, they got Moduro. Now they have a new target, Hilton Hotels and with that, welcome.
00:00:24
Speaker 1: To this episode of Amy A. TJ. Rhoads.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: I knew this story was gonna go crazy because Maga got one now and it was handed to a molti platter by Hilton Hotels. I couldn't believe how this story went crazy. Refuse to allow ice agents to stay in a hotel and now this could absolutely hurt the bottom line of an international hotel chain.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: It already has hurt the bottom line of an international hotel chain based on one independent franchise outside of Minneapolis. Were talking about a Hampton Inn in the Minneapolis area, but DHS posted this on x This is what started this entire firestorm. No room at the end at Hilton Hotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to refuse service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously canceled their reservations.
00:01:25
Speaker 4: This is unacceptable.
00:01:27
Speaker 3: Why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS law enforcement from their mission to enforce our nation's immigration laws.
00:01:38
Speaker 2: I hate, I hate that we do this. This is awful on all I hate that. You know what, It didn't hit me until you just read. I've read that myself.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: That is awful.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, come on, you use Okay, we need to explain what the story is and then maybe you'll be outraged, because the outrage is our only reaction. They just fired up their whole base. That post is BS. Okay, it is this hotel. I think what they did is BS. But then we compounded by putting this out there. Read that second and start from the top again.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: This is at all caps, no room at the inn exclamation.
00:02:16
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, that's clever. I'll give you that.
00:02:18
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: At Hilton Hotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis.
00:02:24
Speaker 4: Stop not true. Not it's not true.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: And it wasn't even Hilton actually, and we'll get into that, but go ahead.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: To refuse service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels malicious canceled their reservations. This is unacceptable all caps. And here is the real sendinary part. Why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS.
00:02:59
Speaker 4: Law enforce from their mission to enforce our nations.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: And that's propaganda and it sends a message to other folk. You're just riling people up for no reason, for no reason. So to explain what happened here, Yes, as you all have seen the news and we've talked about here plenty, there is an increased law enforcement presence in Minnesota right now, just in general. There's the fraud investigation going on, but also a lot of crackdown with ICE agents, so they have been flooding that area for the most part.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: Some agents tried to book a hotel.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: Lakeville, Lakeville, Yes, Hampton's Hampton in Lakeville, Yes.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: All right, try to book some rooms. Their reservations end up getting canceled. Now Roades, this is legit, and I think this is crazy. This email that's been put out from some representative from Hampton telling these ICE agents they're getting canceled.
00:03:51
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: So the Department of Homeland Security, under their very clever social media post by the way the ICE account on x also, Hey Hilton Hotels, why did your team in Minneapolis cancel our federal law enforcement officer and agent's reservations?
00:04:05
Speaker 4: Like very snarkily.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: So they then put these photos like screenshots of two separate emails. The first one is this email is in regards to the reservation you made with the Hampton in Lakeville property. We have noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS, and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property. If you are with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.
00:04:34
Speaker 1: Okay, that's I think.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: If they that is legit, and it's been acknowledged that that is legit, I think that's wrong. I do think it's wrong. If they have their reasons for it, I will listen and I will concede. But there have been protests at some of these hotels in the area, and maybe they just don't want that heat, and that's fine, but I do actually think it's wrong to deny a hotel room. We could talk about legalities here in a minute, but I do I think that's wrong.
00:05:02
Speaker 3: I agree, and also there was a second email put up that said, after further investigation online, we have found information about immigration work connected with your name, and we will be canceling your upcoming reservation.
00:05:14
Speaker 4: So that even sounds.
00:05:15
Speaker 3: Like someone googled someone's name to find out if they were a federal agent.
00:05:19
Speaker 4: That's also problematic.
00:05:20
Speaker 3: It is and should be pointed out that back in twenty twenty, in Trump's first administration, Hilton did come out and say that they were against it was against their policy to have migrants or children being held in their hotels. They said, we are not a prison. We do not condone incarcerating people in our hotels. So perhaps I'm just wondering if that occurrence back in twenty twenty might have prompted the overreaction perhaps by DHS to put this all out publicly, because this isn't the first time that they have had some sort of issue with Hilton, or Hilton had an issue with what they were doing.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you say, possibly the reaction of DHS could possibly inform the reaction of this hotel as well, thinking back and thinking, maybe there's some stuff that'll be going on in the hotel we don't like. Fine, I think so far the story. It makes sense and is legit, and I think it's wrong what the hotel did. But why can cooler heads never prevail to make a phone call to reach out because they had one here? I think this is one where the administration you actually got one. You're actually in the right, and I think majority of people would be on your side. And they know it, and they took advantage of it.
00:06:36
Speaker 4: They politicized it.
00:06:37
Speaker 1: They did when they were right.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: I can't even I can't argue with the administration that yes, these guys shouldn't have gotten reservations, not at all. I can't. But then the administration turns around. It makes me feel bad about them being right.
00:06:51
Speaker 4: Because of how they handled it.
00:06:53
Speaker 3: And look Hilton. The reaction from Hilton came quickly. It was swift. We should read their statements because they first of all, distance there's one from Hilton itself, and then there's one from the hotel management company that oversees this particular property.
00:07:09
Speaker 4: So Hilton said this, this.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: Hotel is independently owned and operated for sentence, and these actions were not reflective of Hilton values. We have been in direct contact with the hotel. They have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies. They have taken immediate action to resolve this matter and are contacting impacted guests to ensure that they are accommodated.
00:07:33
Speaker 4: That was the right response.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: Yes, it was the only one so far, so good.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: Yes, and the hotel management company said this. We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure that they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted. We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider. All good, right, And yet Hilton shares fell two point five percent on Monday. And if you look on social media and you see what conservative pundits are putting out there and how Americans are reacting, you'll understand why there are calls for full boycotts. And there is outrage, outrage everywhere about what happened. And so even the Google reviews people are calling them an American giving them one stars. You know, people go do that to try and make the hotel chain actually actually suffer.
00:08:34
Speaker 2: There's there's a word for that that they do they when they flood of the reviews.
00:08:39
Speaker 1: There's a something this is a thing I cannot.
00:08:42
Speaker 4: Remember the verb that I do not know.
00:08:44
Speaker 3: But like Alex Jones puts out treason alert in all caps treason alert, Hilton Hotels cancel reservations for ice agents. This hotel chain has issued a statement publicly citing with illegal alien invaders, rapists and murderers. They did not issue a statement publicly sighting with any of that. They actually issued a statement apologizing. See all of this misinformation is so frustrating. And then from what he says, people didn't read the story, they didn't listen or go further in past the headline. And then they see Alex Jones say that Hilton has now issued a statement sighting with rapist and murderers.
00:09:25
Speaker 4: And then you have people.
00:09:26
Speaker 3: Calling for boycott's, drop the hammer on them, boycott them.
00:09:30
Speaker 4: This is all on X.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: I am genuinely sad about this story. Just another example of where we are in this country and how we fire each other up, we make sure we stay divided and cooler heads leadership just doesn't prevail. There's no reason, I don't know, somebody should get to the bottom of it, and I'm curious, and I think the hotel was wrong, but robes a mistake even if it was completely intentional, and whoever had malicious intent, this team, that local thing, it becomes an international hotel chain, is actually siding with murderers and rapists. We support murders and rapists more than we support our own law enforcement. Is an absurd thing to allege based on this. I just that makes me sad. And there are people that promote this, and if I can, we can encourage. We do it all the time on our podcast road. We can encourage anybody to just take a beat. Don't believe a headline. Please learn for yourself, because you end up making yourself stupid. If you just believe in Alex Jones headline, if you just believe Amy and TJ podcast headline, did dive into it a little yourself before you get outraged and go out there start spewing at your family gathering or at work misinformation that you're so passionate and outraged about that's completely false. This makes me so damn sad. I was wanted to do this update. Now we're gotten into it and we're talking, I am so sad. About this is awful.
00:11:12
Speaker 3: And what you're saying is you've got you've got one one person, maybe even responsible.
00:11:19
Speaker 4: I don't know how many employees.
00:11:20
Speaker 3: Were involved in writing those emails, but it could just be one person. And now and there's a little bit of truth, right, There is a lot of truth to some of the headlines. So that's the problem with these types of stories, because there is something that happened that needs to be addressed. But it's so I shouldn't. I don't want to minimize what those folks felt like when they were turned away or when they got their cancelation. But it was an isolated hotel, specific hotel, not even a chain, just one hotel and maybe even one employee.
00:11:55
Speaker 4: And now this.
00:11:56
Speaker 3: Huge firestorm has erupted, and if we can all just take a breath and get some perspective and give each other a little bit of grace. People make mistakes and apologies were immediately handed out, and it's not good enough. And we want to be able to say you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy, and you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy.
00:12:19
Speaker 4: That's the problem.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Now I feel stupid because we know what this is about. This is people trying to get audiences, trying to get followers. You play into people's greatest fears, and you just you beat it into the ground. You just beat it. You scare these immigrants. Look who's hurting you. You scared these people. You're not happy with your job, you lost your job. Look who's taking it these immigrants, And he's rapists. And you're playing on people's fears and working people up instead of bringing people together. And that I am desperate for leadership in this country. This was such an easy moment to be the bigger person. DHS. You want to call them first, you want to look into this first. No, because that doesn't help us politically. You know what helps to get everybody worked up? Say that this hotel chain that you have no chance of having even staying in the penthouse of one of their places, you can't even you can't afford, so you certainly can't understand the finances and how rich these people are. See what these rich people are doing to you. They're kicking out the agents who are trying to keep you safe. Jesus Crobs, Yep, that's just politics. I'm just begging everybody. Nobody is gonna change in DC and how this goes. But we have to do better about these stories, behave and to not just get outraged because Alex Jones tells you to in the headline exactly. So I did not expect to get worked up about this one. Well, you just pissed me off. But stay here, folks, when we come back, I'm gonna calm down. But also, this move they made, is it even legal? Is their precedent for something like this happening before?
00:13:58
Speaker 1: Stay here? Okay?
00:14:10
Speaker 2: We continue here on Amy and a much calmer TJ. This story is mad. This is one robes where I always think, Wow, there was an opportunity to show something, to showcase different sides coming together and having a good outcome. Could you imagine there being a press conference out there, the owners of the hotel and the ICE agents standing together and doing something that shows the rest of the country it's okay to disagree but still work together. It's okay, Now, that's not what happened, I said, a calmer TJ. Why don't you take it?
00:14:40
Speaker 3: Well, we were talking about whether or not it's even legal for a hotel chain to refuse to accommodate a guest, and from what I could find online, and I'm with several law sites where actually there are lawyers who represent hotel chains giving them advice and what the law says. And here is what I got. Hotels can legally turn away guests for legitimate reasons such as over capacity, failure to comply with hotel policies, inability to pay, or what they call high risk tenants.
00:15:13
Speaker 4: Also, you can turn someone.
00:15:15
Speaker 3: Away if the safety if there's a safety issue, or if a guest behavior ist is deemed likely to disrupt the peace and comfort of other patrons or pose a risk to the staff.
00:15:25
Speaker 4: You mentioned the protests.
00:15:26
Speaker 3: This is happening outside of hotels where they are actually making loud noises to try and make sure they can't sleep, just to be completely disruptive. And these protests are happening specifically in the Minneapolis area. So I wonder if there was that going on outside this hotel. I don't know that it was, but I feel like there's enough gray area in that speak legal speak, that you could probably be justified in saying we don't sorry, but we're not allowing ice agents right now.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: Well that's not a fight you would want to know, but that was your point.
00:16:00
Speaker 3: They have some legal there is some, there is some, And you mentioned precedent in terms of the Supreme Court, because we remember it was a few years ago where you had a bakery I believe, who didn't want to bake a cake for an LGBTQ plus couple, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court did ultimately say that because it violated that baker, that baker's or that that that owner's religious beliefs, that they had the right to refuse service. So this has been questioned and challenged before in different ways.
00:16:33
Speaker 4: And so it's look, legally can be one thing.
00:16:36
Speaker 3: When you're going to get a financial hit and boycotts are being called, you have to do damage control on a whole other level. It doesn't matter if you could even say the laws on your side. You have a PR problem, a major PR problem right now.
00:16:48
Speaker 2: Again, it's it's it's the Hampton Inn in Lakeville. This isn't the Ritz in Half Moon Bay. I mean, it's it's not necessary.
00:16:57
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just I.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: Mean, Hilton runs nine thousand hotels around the world this and most of them, by the way, are independently owned. Most of them are franchised.
00:17:08
Speaker 4: Out. So it isn't Hilton, so to speak, but.
00:17:11
Speaker 3: It's still under They has their name and it's under their umbrella, and so they still have to take some responsibility.
00:17:17
Speaker 4: But it's just the perspective.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: Yes, please one Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota, with a nine thousand plus hotel chain around the world.
00:17:31
Speaker 1: I again ropes.
00:17:32
Speaker 2: We just this isn't a story where you need to necessarily take a take a side and be outraged. This is an opportunity for us to have a conversation about something. And we always always say, you've got to support these guys out there doing a job that they're ordered to do, and you can't be mad at the ICE agents for carrying out their jobs. Plenty of people are mad at them, but these instructions are.
00:17:55
Speaker 4: Not They're following orders.
00:17:57
Speaker 2: What they're doing, what they're supposed to do and like it, love it, hated, but you just can't personally take it out necessarily on these guys hotel. I can understand, what if it's disturbing the other guests, Maybe their bottom line is being impacted by having so many ICE agents there because other people want to stake Maybe that's the case, But I just don't care. All I care about here is admitting we made a mistake. This is how it happened, It shouldn't have been done. The employee that did it, This is what's happening to that person. We are retraining. We are dada da and just say it and move on. DHS putting it out. I'm okay putting it out, but when you're getting people in this heated political climate worked up to say that an international chain is supporting rapists and murderers, you put a target on their backs at every one of those nine thousand locations for reasons that most people aren't going to investigate. They just saw the DHS official Twitter account putting that out there and that's all they read. So we just folks, We plead with you, please please take a beat when you see something like this come up, and don't let outrage be your immediate response before you look into these things.
00:19:09
Speaker 1: And this is a sad one. I'm sorry even suggest that we.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: Do, but it's an important one because I think this is exactly how we should be talking about these types of stories. Yes, it's our job to report on what happened, but I think it's also important to give the perspective that sometimes is missing in a lot of these stories, and certainly you don't get it in a headline. And when you read the comments, you can see the people who actually read the article and people who just read the headline, and there is a difference.
00:19:39
Speaker 2: Don't be the latter, is all we're trying to say, folks read beyond the headline. And with that we always appreciate you listening to us on behalf of my dear Amy Robot. I am a much calmer dj Olms now talk