Motel 6 To Pay $7.6M For Giving Guest Names To ICE

Reuters reports:

Motel 6 will pay up to $7.6 million to Hispanic guests to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming that it violated their privacy by regularly providing guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Terms of the preliminary settlement with eight Hispanic plaintiffs – seven from Arizona and one from Washington state – were disclosed in a Nov. 2 filing with the federal court in Phoenix. Motel 6 also agreed to a two-year consent decree barring it from sharing guest data with immigration authorities absent warrants, subpoenas, or threats of serious crime or harm.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed the lawsuit after the Phoenix New Times said ICE agents had arrested 20 people over six months at Motel 6s in Arizona, using guest lists to target people by national origin.