"The front-desk clerk told him that he needed to show identification in order to reserve a room. Rodriguez-Juarez handed over the only thing he had — a Mexican voter ID card.
Six hours later, he was lying on the bed, watching TV, when he heard a knock at the door.
He opened it. Three agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were waiting for him.
When asked, Rodriguez-Juarez admitted that he wasn’t authorized to be in the United States. He’s currently being held at the immigration detention center in Florence while his lawyer, Juan Rocha, tries to get him asylum.
While the case is pending, Rocha is trying to figure out something that’s been bothering him: Did someone at Motel 6 tip off ICE?
Thanks to a 2015 Supreme Court decision, the city can’t require motels to turn over that information without a warrant. But if a motel chooses to do so voluntarily, that’s up to the owner.
And front desk staff at multiple Motel 6 locations in the Valley said that they regularly share guest information with local police.
“I don’t know how it works, but if you check in and you have a warrant, you’re going to get picked up,” one young woman explained.
Even without an outstanding warrant, though, undocumented people are at risk."
[For more on this story by Antonia Noori Farzan & Joseph Flaherty , go to http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com...tion-lawyers-9683244]
Photo: Two Motel 6 locations in Phoenix — including 4130 North Black Canyon Highway, pictured — were the sites of at least 20 ICE arrests between February and August.
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