Hotel owners and workers caught in middle of ICE protests and crackdown

Hotel owners and workers have found themselves caught in the middle of President Trump’s immigration crackdown and protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The New York Times reported on Jan. 30, 2026. “No sleep” protests have targeted properties where ICE agents are thought to be staying, while right‑wing influencers have called out hotels that appear to refuse to rent rooms to ICE, the article says.

Activists have also booked rooms only to cancel them at the last minute and have organized boycotts of hotels affiliated with chains such as Hilton and Marriott that accepted ICE bookings. The report notes most individual hotels are owned by franchisees — often immigrants themselves — who face a dilemma: if they accept ICE bookings they risk protests and lost business; if they refuse them they risk penalties from the chain and also losing business.

The piece also says many hotels depend on immigrant workers for vital services such as cleaning and maintenance, and that some of those workers are employed without authorization. A photograph accompanying the article shows a "no sleep" protest this month at a Hilton‑affiliated hotel in Minneapolis, credited to the Associated Press.

What is known: the tactics used by protesters and influencers, the franchisee dilemma and the industry’s reliance on immigrant labor.

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