Minneapolis council backs off on revoking liquor licenses of hotels that housed ICE agents

After weeks of debate, the Minneapolis City Council voted to renew the liquor licenses of two downtown hotels that housed federal immigration officers during the crackdown that has shaken the city and made hotel workers feel unsafe.

But it was a divided vote, with eight in favor and five against.

The hotels, Canopy by Hilton and the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel at the Depot, have been the targets of protests because federal agents stayed in them during Operation Metro Surge, when federal immigration officials said they deployed about 3,300 agents in the state from December through mid-February.

Two days after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in south Minneapolis in January, about 1,000 people converged outside the two hotels, blowing whistles and banging drums to disrupt agents’ sleep.

After city officials said they found no legal basis to deny the licenses, a majority of the council voted to approve the licenses. The five other members said the council was doing its job in trying to protect hotel workers who have felt unsafe working around armed immigration agents.

More moderate council members said the council was inviting a lawsuit and warned that retaliating against the hotels would hurt already suffering businesses.

Amy Lingo, the city’s manager for business licenses, said the hotels are compliant with city liquor codes and state laws and that she found no extraordinary safety concerns or upticks in 311 or 911 calls related to safety or liquor sales.

Council Member Aurin Chowdhury defended the council’s decision to scrutinize the licenses, emphasizing that constituents reached out to the council with concerns. Some hotel workers were afraid to testify before the council, she said.

“I just want to say, ‘I hear you. I understand your fears,’” Chowdhury said.

Lingo said hotel representatives said they’ve tried to mitigate workers’ anxiety by keeping staff separate from the agents. She said sometimes agents forget to put “do not disturb” signs up and workers would see unsecured weapons in the rooms, causing anxiety. But, she said, that’s not relevant to the codes governing liquor licenses but rather hotel licenses.

Chowdhury said the council may need to have a wider conversation about the hotel licenses.

Council Vice President Jamal Osman said even though immigration and border control agents have targeted certain communities (including his Somali community), and caused millions of dollars in damage to the city, the council needs to follow the law, even as the agents are not adhering to the U.S. Constitution, in his view. He encouraged businesses to “be careful” whom they host in order to avoid creating chaos.

But more progressive council members defended the debate, saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol have wreaked havoc on the city and the council needed to look at ways to keep people safe. Council Member Robin Wonsley suggested the hotel license might be a “pathway.”

Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents the downtown area and has defended the hotels, said it’s clear the council has no legal authority to deny the license and said after talking to operators of both hotels, it was clear they “care very much for their staff.”

Council Member Jamison Whiting said that even though the council has no cause to deny the liquor licenses, it does have tools that may be used to make it as “uncomfortable as possible” for ICE to operate here.

Neither hotel immediately responded to requests for comment.

The vote was 8-5 in favor of the license renewals.

Voting against were Chowdhury, Wonsley, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai, and Council President Elliott Payne.

The council also voted to spend $7 million to help small businesses struggling in the wake of the federal crackdown; many immigrant-owned enterprises have closed or scaled back hours as people stayed away and sales plummeted.

The money would come from the Downtown Assets Fund, which contains about $80 million for costs such as repairs to the Minneapolis Convention Center; debt payments on the Target Center; and debt payments for U.S. Bank Stadium.