Minneapolis weighs penalty for hotels that housed ICE agents
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Protesters outside Renaissance's Depot hotel in downtown Minneapolis, where ICE agents have been spotted. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Minneapolis City Council could decide Thursday whether two downtown hotels should lose their liquor licenses for possibly housing ICE agents during Operation Metro Surge.
Why it matters: Hospitality advocates say revocations would send a chilling message to a hospitality industry facing uncertainty in the aftermath of the Trump administration's deportation blitz.
- But some hotel employees and union representatives argue federal agents' presence created safety concerns that justify a city intervention.
Catch up quick: For the last two weeks, the council has delayed action on liquor licenses at the two hotels — the Canopy by Hilton and Renaissance's The Depot Minneapolis — to seek more information and public testimony.
- Employees, unions and anti-ICE activists say agents have been spotted in both hotels. Both hotels have been the site of "ICE Out" protests.
- To reject a license, the council would need to find "a connection between the licensed activity and the identified concerns," Quinn O'Reilly of the Minneapolis city attorney's office said.
What they're saying: "Selling liquor is a privilege, not a right," Jon Erik Haines, an attorney for the hotel workers union UNITE Here Local 17, told council members at a hearing this week.
- "If a hotel is housing a violent armed paramilitary," Haines argued, the council would be within its rights to decide "that it should not be permitted to sell liquor."
The other side: "We should be focused on bringing people into the city, not driving them away. That means backing events [and] filling our venues," Mayor Jacob Frey told Axios in a statement.
- "Revoking their licenses doesn't just hurt the venue — it hurts the workers, vendors, and nonprofits that rely on these spaces to keep running," Frey said.
The big picture: The influx of ICE agents caused a bump in local hotel bookings during months when many rooms sit empty — but industry insiders are bracing for a steep dropoff after their purported pullout.
- More than 13,500 nights' worth of reservations and five "major events" have been canceled, according to a preliminary city report.
Between the lines: The hotels are caught in a thicket of conflicting legal, practical and political pressures.
- Legally, the hotels may have had grounds to deny rooms to the agents, O'Reilly advised the council earlier this week.
- But if they did, they'd risk losing their Hilton and Marriott affiliations — as happened to a Lakeville hotel whose staff rejected agents' bookings.
What we're watching: Whether the 13-member council can muster the nine votes they'd need to override a mayoral veto when they take up the issue on Thursday.