(Photo Credit: MIchael Nigro for AP)
Two Minnesota hotels canceled reservations for ICE agents and temporarily closed their properties due to “”heightened public safety concerns.”
The news was first reported by Fox News journalist Bill Melugin on Sunday. Melugin obtained a letter from the Doubletree St. Paul Downtown that told agents their rooms were being canceled and that the hotel closing for a few days.
“We are taking this step out of care for you, our team members, and the surrounding community,” the notice said.
The Hilton-operated hotel said its team would work with agents to find “alternate accommodations.”
That hotel still appears to be closed on Monday morning, with the hotel staff not answering the phone when Mediaite called.
Another hotel in the area is closing temporarily as well. The Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront will be closed for several days due to “elevated safety and security concerns,” the property said in a statement. The temporary closure started on Sunday, and a hotel staff member told Mediaite the property was not taking reservations until at least Wednesday of this week.
Like the Doubletree, the Intercontinental said it was “contacting guests to offer accommodations to other properties.”
The canceled reservations come as Minnesota has had a number of anti-ICE protests following the shooting death of Renee Good earlier this month. Some of those protests have turned violent, including one incident last week where CNN reported protesters were “physically” interfering with an ICE operation.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem sent “hundreds more” agents to Minneapolis last week to help the thousands of agents already there. The unrest continued into this past weekend, though, as anti-ICE protesters stormed a church and started screaming on Sunday; they wrecked the service because they believed the pastor also worked for ICE.
The cancelations reported by Melugin come after one Hilton hotel in Minneapolis upset many conservatives, as well as the DHS, by “not allowing” ICE agents to stay there earlier this month.
The post 2 Minnesota Hotels Cancel ICE Reservations and Temporarily Shut Down Due to ‘Safety Concerns’ first appeared on Mediaite.