US now using several hotel chains to detain migrant children

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government has detained children at several major hotel chains — more than previously known — during the coronavirus pandemic instead of transferring them to government-funded shelters, according to new data released Friday.

Since March, the Trump administration has used hotels to hold at least 660 children, most unaccompanied by a parent, before expelling them to their countries of origin. The administration said it cannot allow children to stay in the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic, though opponents of U.S. immigration policy contend that the pandemic is being used as a pretext to deny access to asylum or other protections in federal law.

The hotels don't provide the same schooling, legal services, and counseling as shelters, and allegations of mistreatment have already emerged. A Haitian family said contractors at one border hotel told them to feed ice to their 1-year-old daughter in case their temperatures were checked as a screening for COVID-19. Immigration authorities denied the use of ice to circumvent screening measures.

Three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Phoenix and two Texas cities, El Paso and McAllen, comprise the majority of the stays up to the end of July, according to the data published Friday in federal court filings. After the Associated Press first reported the three Hampton Inns were detention sites, Hilton said it expected all of its properties “to reject business that would use a hotel in this way.” Hilton owns the Hampton Inn brand, though the three properties are franchises.

But other Hilton hotels have also been used to detain children since March, the data shows. So have properties at Marriott International Inc. and Choice Hotels International Inc., which was previously unknown.

A Homewood Suites in San Antonio held 12 children and an Embassy...