A national hotel chain, the DoubleTree by Hilton, faced severe online backlash after it was revealed that the hotel had moved to throw out the ICE agents who were staying in it, with furious conservatives demanding that the hotel chain face severe repercussions, including a national boycott, over the decision.
As background, the news that the DoubleTree hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota, had thrown out ICE agents under the nominal guise of “safety” for the agents themselves, the hotel staff, and the other hotel patrons came first from Fox News Channel reporter Bill Melugin, who revealed a letter in which the hotel chain had told the ICE agents they had to leave.
The ostensible letter requesting they leave began, “Please know that your safety and well-being will always be our top priority. Due to heightened public safety concerns in St. Paul, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our hotel, and your reservation will be canceled effective Sunday, January 18, 2026 by 12PM. We are taking this step out of care for you, our team members, and the surrounding community.”
It added, “Due to your unexpected departure, our team can assist you with alternate accommodations if needed. To support you during this difficult transition and as a gesture of goodwill, we can either refund your last night’s stay or pay your first night’s stay at your new hotel at the same rate as your canceled reservation with us. Thank you for understanding during this challenging time.”
That news was then followed up on by Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura, who posted a video from the DoubleTree location at issue in which he revealed what was going on. He captioned the video, “Developing story – ICE and border patrol agents are now kicked out of this Hilton Doubletree hotel in St.Paul due to safety concerns according to the hotel , we just confirmed with the hotel that they are indeed closing at this time , other guests are allowed to stay through their reservation.”
In the video itself, Jorge Ventura said, “This is a developing story, but we are now learning that ICE and Border Patrol agents are being kicked out of this hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton in St Paul downtown. The hotel says it is due to safety concerns. We did confirm with the hotel that all guests did receive a memo that all government employees have to be checked out by noon. The other guests are allowed to stay.”
He further explained, on the point of what was going on with the hotel, “The hotel says is due to safety concerns. We just walked in, tried to book a room. We couldn’t. They did confirm that it is closing. We do see a truck now leaving. Now this is still a developing situation here in downtown Minneapolis.”
"*" indicates required fields
He concluded, “So once again, it’s a still-developing situation on what’s going on here on the ground, but just even driving around the city, you see lots of anti ice signs, anti-Border Patrol signs, and now ICE agents here will have to find a new room after federal employees are now being kicked out. We’re still trying to learn some more information. We see another vehicle there also exiting the hotels. We were approaching noon. The other guests are allowed to finish the reservation.”
Watch him here:
Furious commenters on his post said things like “Hey @HiltonHotels… It seems either you don’t have a handle on your locations and franchisee’s or you’re complicit… and with the amount of times this keeps happening, I am leaning with the latter” and “I will personally never stay at any of the Hilton group hotels because of their treatment of law enforcement, avoid them all”.
Other commenters said things like “I dumped them last time and knew the bud light rug pull was inevitable. They don’t understand their base any more than bud light did. People have a choice these days” and “The entire Hilton company needs to lose access to Federal Contracts, and be status non gratis for federal travel until they can do something about these franchise holders.”
Another commenter noted, “Wait. They’re closing for future reservations, and kicking the Government employees out, but letting other guest stay – so it’s not ‘we’re closing everything for the safety of our employees’. This is unwise on Hilton’s part.” Still another said, “Never stay at another Hilton. Make the same thing that happened to Budweiser and Target happen to them. a full boycott.”