Dozens of protesters were arrested Tuesday night after occupying the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood, according to multiple reports including the Associated Press.
The protesters accused the Hilton Garden Inn New York/Tribeca of housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Some wore T-shirts that read “Hilton houses ICE,” although it has not been confirmed if federal immigration officers are being boarded at that location.
The protest comes nearly a month after Hilton cut ties with an independently owned franchise hotel in Minnesota, following accusations that the Hampton Inn property refused to accommodate Department of Homeland Security law enforcement.
On Wednesday, Hotel Dive reached out to Hilton for comment on the recent developments and received an automatic reply that said its U.S. press office was closed.
At a Wednesday press conference, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he commended New Yorkers “who exercise their constitutional right to protest, especially in bringing attention to the horrific abuses of ICE across this country, and I think especially right now in Minneapolis.”
Meanwhile, two hotels in St. Paul, Minnesota, owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, a tribal nation in central Minnesota — the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront and the DoubleTree St. Paul Downtown, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Hilton properties, respectively — temporarily suspended operations as of Jan. 18 “in response to elevated safety and security concerns,” according to a Facebook post from the company.
At a media roundtable in New York last week, Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta addressed the paused hotel operations in St. Paul as well as Hilton’s decision to cut ties with the Minnesota Hampton Inn, Travel Weekly reported.
Another protest occurred at a Home2Suites by Hilton hotel in Minneapolis on Jan. 26, according to The New York Times. That conflict ended with armed federal agents tear gassing protesters who had been “vandalizing the building with messages like ‘ICE OUT’ as others hurled objects at the windows,” the newspaper reported.
