Bellingham activists demand Hilton hotels stop cooperating with ICE agents
Dozens of community members gathered at the Hampton Inn Bellingham Airport on Friday evening to demand that Hilton Hotels stop housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“Our goal here tonight is to support the national ICE Out For Good effort supporting Minnesota and objecting to ICE terrorizing our communities,” said Robin Thomas of the local activist group Bellingham Troublemakers, which organized the event.
“ICE Out For Good” is a national movement that began after American citizen Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jan. 23 is being called a “National Day of Solidarity” by anti-ICE organizers across the country as communities are being pushed to demand for “corporate accountability.”
“We’re here at the Hilton hotel because Hilton is housing ICE as they come into communities, and we would like the Hilton corporation to not support and collaborate with them,” Thomas told The Bellingham Herald.
Thomas told The Herald that organizers wanted to send a message that supporting ICE is bad for business.
“We don’t have a lot of power in Congress and at the presidential level, obviously. They’re coming after communities. They’re breaking the Constitution and the law. So corporations that are collaborating with this administration are aiding and abetting the breaking of our Constitution. We want people to stand up for the American ideal,” Thomas told The Herald.
In a release about the event, organizers called Hilton’s corporate cooperation a “key pillar of ICE infrastructure.”
“Hilton-owned hotels house — and in some cases feed — ICE agents, materially enabling ICE operations and allowing the company to profit from mass detention and deportation policies associated with the Trump administration,” the release said.
Organizers delivered a letter to front desk staff at the hotel, requesting Hampton Inn Bellingham Airport “commit to NOT accommodating any ICE personnel in any of their facilities.”
Organizers were also able to reach Regional Manager Craig Schultz by phone, who told them he would pass along their requests to those above him.
The group also delivered a letter to the general manager of Home2 Suites by Hilton Bellingham Airport on Friday night.
The Herald was awaiting a response from Hilton Hotels at the time of publication.
This story was originally published January 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
