Labor union says Trumps immigration policies are hurting hotels, terrifying workers

Unite Here president Gwen Mills highlighted findings from the report during a Washington, D.C. roundtable on Feb. 11. The union represents 300,000 hospitality workers at hotels, casinos, restaurants and airports in the U.S. and Canada.
Mills said that "scenes of violence on the streets in our major cities and anti-immigrant rhetoric" are discouraging domestic and foreign travel.
Travel to the U.S. was already down well before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers started clashing with protestors in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities. It certainly hasnt helped, though. ICE raids and protests in Minnesota have prompted several European nations -- including France, Ireland, Germany and Finland -- to issue travel advisories for Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Travel to the U.S. was already down well before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers started clashing with protestors in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities. It certainly hasnt helped, though. ICE raids and protests in Minnesota have prompted several European nations -- including France, Ireland, Germany and Finland -- to issue travel advisories for Minneapolis and St. Paul. Mills also said the Trump administration has abruptly terminated legal status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, which has had a deleterious effect on hotels and restaurants. Co-workers have had to scramble to cover the gaps, she said. Mills noted that the deployment of an estimated 3,000 ICE officers to the Minneapolis area this winter has created tensions at hotels where the agents are staying. Safety concerns have prompted a few hotels to temporarily close. Mills also said multiple Minneapolis members who work inside secure airport areas -- and therefore have passed stringent background checks -- have been detained by ICE. "Theres absolutely no way that those folks are on anybodys list," said Mills. "Theyve gone through deep criminal background checks to get into work." The situation has left hundreds of union members afraid to come to work because they fear being indiscriminately picked up, she said.  "These are documented workers or U.S.-born workers who happen to be black and brown," she said. "We have hundreds of members and their families who have not left their house for, like, over a month." The Trump administration announced on Feb. 12 that it is ending its two-month immigration crackdown in Minnesota.