The 12th Annual ALIS Law conference wrapped up in Los Angeles yesterday. The producer of this conference has an “off-the-record” policy, so I will not report on anything anyone said. However, I don’t think it will breach that policy to share that the topic that seemed to surface the most was Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in my hometown of Minneapolis. How should a hotel operator respond if an ICE agent presents an administrative (as opposed to a judicial) warrant demanding access to a guestroom? And what if the agent wants access to back-of-the-house areas of the hotel to interrogate (and potentially arrest) employees? How can or should a franchisor respond if a franchisee announces a policy of not accommodating ICE agents, as Minnesota-based franchisees of two major hospitality brands did this month? Without mentioning how anyone responded to these issues, I will share that they were discussed during both sessions and coffee breaks between sessions.
–Bob Lannan