Crime

At Motel 6, We'll Keep The Light On For You (And Then Maybe We'll Call The Cops On You)

Staying at a Motel 6 can land you in jail. Which might be an improvement.

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Generally speaking, Motel 6 is a solid chain. It’s certainly never luxurious, but if one has to find a cheap room off the side of a highway when you’re 40 miles from nowhere in Nebraska, Motel 6 is going to offer a reasonably priced room that you’re at least 70 percent sure didn’t host a dead hooker the night before (and about 10 percent sure it didn’t host a live one). Its folksy radio ads seem so very welcoming — they’re going to leave the light on for me!

But in Arizona, attorneys think there are a pair of Motel 6 locations offering less than hospitable service — volunteering your whereabouts to ICE:

Management at both Motel 6 locations directed questions to the corporation’s media hotline. Repeated calls over a period of several weeks were not returned.

Unofficially, though, employees at both locations said it was standard practice to share guest information with ICE.

“We send a report every morning to ICE — all the names of everybody that comes in,” one front-desk clerk explained. “Every morning at about 5 o’clock, we do the audit and we push a button and it sends it to ICE.”

That’s not very neighborly. In fact, the Phoenix New Times found that ICE made at least 20 arrests at two Phoenix-area Motel 6 locations between February and August. And it’s not just immigration! A few years ago, Motel 6 made headlines when the ACLU discovered the chain was handing over guest lists to local cops unsolicited. While law enforcement can’t compel hotels to hand over this information without a warrant, Motel 6 has a history of gleefully throwing its guests’ privacy under the bus, and it looks like it might be happening again in Phoenix.

In a sense, Motel 6 is the perfect metaphor for America in 2017. A sprawling empire based on cheap, bargain basement services that can unironically exalt its “I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” imagery while junking DACA and joking about building walls. Motel 6 leaves the light on for you, indeed.

Still, while civil libertarians and immigration rights activists should be duly outraged over the possibility that a hotel chain may be abusing the trust of its customers like this, there’s a more important lesson to take away from all of this. If you’re out there considering running from the law — maybe consider a Super 8.

UPDATE (9/15/2017, 9:15 a.m.): Motel 6 has responded to the controversy, announcing a new policy on providing information to ICE:

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Attorneys Suspect Motel 6 Calling ICE on Undocumented Guests [Phoenix New Times]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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