Hilton Hotels said it is removing a Minneapolis-area Hampton Inn from its system after an undercover video appeared to show an employee claiming immigration agents were not allowed to stay on the property.
Hilton announced the move on social media Tuesday, a day after the operator of the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota, apologized for allegedly canceling reservations for Department of Homeland Security employees.
Hilton and the operator, Everpeak Hospitality, released statements Monday saying the hotel would make sure the guests were accommodated. Then conservative influencer Nick Sortor showed up at the hotel late Monday night and asked for 10 rooms, telling someone at the front desk that they were for DHS.
Despite the statements released earlier that night, the worker said the hotel was not accepting DHS or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement personnel onto the property because of a policy of the hotel’s owner.
“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this,” Hilton said in a statement. “A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems.”
The hotel company said it was reinforcing its standards with all franchisees “to help ensure this does not happen again.”
The majority of branded hotels are franchises, individually owned and operated under a license with the larger hotel company, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Those hotels still need to meet the “brand standards” of the name on the building.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin applauded Hilton’s move in a response to its statement on X.
“Discriminatory business practices targeting @dhsgov and deliberately undermining federal law enforcement are unAmerican and have real business consequences,” she wrote.
Sortor’s video, posted early Tuesday morning, thrust Hilton back into a firestorm that had many social media users threatening to boycott. On Monday, DHS accused the company of carrying out a “coordinated campaign” to refuse them rooms in the Minneapolis area.
The X account for DHS published a post Monday sharing screenshots of emails from a partially redacted hilton.com address that identified the property as the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota, about 25 miles south of Minneapolis.
“After further investigation online, we have found information about immigration work connected with your name and we will be cancelling your upcoming reservation,” the email says. “You should see a proper cancellation email in your inbox shortly from Hilton.”
An email address for Everpeak Hospitality was also included on the chain. On Monday evening, Everpeak posted a statement to its websitesaying it had “moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all.”
NO ROOM AT THE INN!@HiltonHotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement. When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations. This is… pic.twitter.com/qKMKypGtzi
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 5, 2026
“We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted,” Everpeak’s statement said. “We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider.”
The Everpeak website still carried that message on Tuesday, along with the assurance that it had “moved swiftly to address this matter.”
In its social media post, DHS called the cancellation malicious and “UNACCEPTABLE.” The official Instagram account for ICE tagged Hilton’s account in a post sharing the purported email.
In statement sent to The Washington Post, McLaughlin said DHS “has surged law enforcement and has already made more than 1,000 arrests of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members.”
McLaughlin’s statement included mug shots of several people identified as a “criminal illegal alien” along with details of convictions, including a Myanmar man who DHS said was sentenced to four years in prison for sexual conduct using force or coercion in Nobles County, Minnesota, and a Somali man reportedly sentenced to prison for a robbery in Columbus, Ohio.
McLaughlin appeared with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson in video clips circulated Monday, saying DHS officers were refused rooms after trying to get a government discount.
“This isn’t one or two instances,” she said in the video. “This is a collective, concerted effort.”
Johnson raised the idea that his listeners should maybe boycott the hotel chain. In response to the DHS post, several people threatened to switch their business to other hotel chains and suggested the government cancel any contracts with Hilton.
President Donald Trump has targeted Minnesota, home to the largest population of people of Somali descent in the country, with inflammatory rhetoric, calling Somali immigrants “garbage” during a Cabinet meeting. Federal prosecutors have charged dozens of Somali individuals with stealing millions in government funds as part of a years-long fraud investigation.
Activists and immigration lawyers in Minneapolis reported ICE operations in the city last month, coinciding with a sweep in New Orleans and following similar action in Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago that led to thousands of arrests, as well as legal challenges and protests.
In both Chicago and Washington, data shows that most of the immigrants detained did not have criminal records.
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