The Hilton Hotels brand in the US made a major announcement on Tuesday (US time), as it continues to be shrouded under controversy after allegedly cancelling reservations made by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

As per a statement shared with Fox News, the popular franchise is cutting ties with the Minnesota hotel involved in the DHS-ICE row. That’s not all, even the Donald Trump administration has dealt the Lakeville hotel a major blow.

Notably, the decisions went public after far-right influencer and independent journalist Nick Sortor “exposed” the Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lakeville, Minnesota, in a now-viral video. In the clip shared on X on Tuesday, an undercover Sortor approached the Minnesota Hilton’s front desk to book a room, while posing as a DHS official.

As per his social media revelation, the hotel in question continued “to ban DHS agents” despite having apologised in public statements addressing the building controversy.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has since also announced the termination of the Hampton Inn Lakeville in Minnesota from its list of approved lodging sites for federal employees.

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“After I was informed that a local Hilton property canceled rooms reserved for ICE, GSA immediately reviewed the matter and found the hotel to be in clear violation of its government lodging program requirements,” Trump-nominated GSA Administrator Edward C Forst told Fox News. “The property has been removed from the programs and booking tools effective immediately. GSA unequivocally supports our federal law enforcement partners.”

Hilton drops Minnesota hotel amid ICE controversy – See statement

In previously shared statements with Fox News, Hilton and the Minnesota hotel’s management company, Everpeak Hospitality, confirmed that the Hampton Inn in Lakeville was independently owned and operated.

Sharing a fresh message with the US news outlet on Tuesday, Hilton said, “The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this.”

It then went on to address the still-persisting issue as highlighted in Nick Sortor’s video, announcing that it was terminating its ties with the Minnesota establishment. “A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values,” the statement added.

“As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is — and has always been — a welcoming place for all. We are also engaging with all of our franchisees to reinforce the standards we hold them to across our system to help ensure this does not happen again.”

The official Hilton Newsroom account on X also issued a statement in response to Sortor’s viral video. Replying to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, they wrote, “We are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems.”

US Influencer Nick Sortor ‘exposes’ Hilton’s Minnesota Hampton Inn

After Homeland Security and ICE called out Hilton Hotels publicly on X, accusing the establishment of cancelling hotel reservations made by the agencies’ officials, Nick Sortor took matters into his own hands. To confirm the credibility of Hilton and Everpeak Hospitality’s apology statements, he set out on a little excursion of his own.

“I went into the Minnesota Hilton who “apologized” for banning DHS agents, and EXPOSED them for CONTINUING to ban DHS agents,” he exclaimed online.

Notably, his tweet followed hours after DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dragged the hotel management company for never actually reaching out to the official government agencies despite claiming that they had addressed the matter at hand.

“I wonder how Everpeak Hospitality has ‘moved swiftly to address this matter’ when @DHSgov and @ICEgov haven’t heard anything from them?” she said on X in response to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin’s coverage of Everpeak’s statement.

After his undercover operation, Sortor claimed on social media that Hilton’s operator, Everpeak, had lied in its prior statement. He also asserted that during his visit to the hotel, the front desk manager told him that he had spoken with the owner just before his arrival. As per Sortor’s findings, the hotel employee confirmed the “Anti-DHS policy remained in effect.”

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Sending a scathing warning Hilton’s way, the conservative influencer wrote in all-caps, “REVOKE THEIR LICENSE, HILTON, OR IT’S GOING TO COST YOU DEARLY. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.”

Even billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who claims to be a Hilton shareholder, took note of Sortor’s video. Re-sharing the clip on his X account, he suggested that if the hotel owner actually lied in the statement, Hilton corporate could just terminate the franchise.

In a follow-up tweet, Ackman praised Sortor for bringing the issue to light. “Apparently, @HiltonHotels is terminating the franchise effective immediately. Credit to @nicksortor for his investigative work,” he said online. “And credit to @HiltonHotels for its responsiveness,” the billionaire added in another post.

Tricia McLaughlin also re-posted Sortor’s video, saying: “Worth noting this occurred many hours after Everpeak Hospitality and @HiltonHotels issued statements insisting this issue was resolved.”

Upon receiving Hilton’s response to the thread, McLaughlin wrote back: “We are glad to see @HiltonHotels take this step. Discriminatory business practices targeting @dhsgov and deliberately undermining federal law enforcement are unAmerican and have real business consequences.”