Given the new administration’s commitment to increasing deportation of undocumented immigrants, planners are concerned enforcement actions may affect their attendees while on site. Is this a valid concern?

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued 10 executive orders and proclamations designed to expand the legal authorities for enforcing immigration law, as well as expand the infrastructure needed to accomplish the mass deportations he promised on the campaign trail, including deporting people without a court hearing to the extent allowed under federal law. This would include stepped-up enforcement actions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including raids on places of business, as well as hospitals, churches and other areas that until recently were off limits, with the initial focus being on those who have been convicted of crimes beyond entering the country without proper documentation.

While it is just an estimation, hospitality is deemed to be one of the top three industries that employ undocumented workers, behind only agriculture and construction. With an estimated 7.1% of the hospitality workforce falling under this category — about 1 million workers — the potential for a sudden arrest and/or deportation of these workers has meeting professionals are wondering what this might mean for their meetings and events.

For example, on the Event Integrity LinkedIn group, someone recently posed the question, “When will ICE start ‘raiding’ hotels?” While no one knows the answer to that question as of yet — nor the implications of what would happen should such a raid happen while the meeting is occurring — the questioner brought up another point that got a lot of concerned responses: Can ICE investigate meeting attendees that are at a conference at a hotel?

While the courts likely would have to take it up should this happen, as of now, when ICE goes into a hotel for the purpose of detaining undocumented hotel workers, their authority to check the identification of guests and meeting attendees is still limited by legal protections. Hotels do collect guest IDs for security and legal compliance reasons, they are not legally allowed to share that data with ICE without a judicial warrant or subpoena. In fact, this very issue came up in a 2019 case with a hotel company, which ended up paying a $12 million settlement for sharing personal guest information with U.S. immigration officials.

“Each time Motel 6 released a guest list, it included the private information of every guest at the hotel without their knowledge or consent, violating their expectation of privacy,” then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office said in a statement at the time, as reported by ABC news. “The Motel 6 guest information disclosures led to significant harmful consequences, including the detention and deportation of many guests and the suffering of their families.”

The upshot is that, unless they have a specific warrant, the Supreme Court ruled that warrantless demands for guest information violate the Fourth Amendment. Guests also are not required to provide identification to ICE agents unless they are served with a valid warrant or there’s probably cause of criminal activity.

But that was 2019. While guests, including meeting attendees, still retain their constitutional protections under the Fourth Amendment so ICE can’t compel hotels to share their IDs or access guest rooms, Trump’s 2025 executive orders on immigration enforcement likely will give ICE greater operational authority when it comes to raids on businesses such as hotels.

For example, the new executive orders broaden deportation priorities to include any criminal charge, including minor offenses such as a traffic violation, which may make it more likely ICE officials will question guests if they suspect they are illegally in the country and may have committed any violation of U.S. law.

And, while hotels aren’t specifically mentioned, the administration’s lifting of Biden-era restrictions that barred ICE from conducting enforcement actions near “protected areas” like hospitals or schools could mean that ICE will take a more aggressive approach to questioning individuals in other types of public spaces.

So what should planners reasonably be concerned about? The chances of ICE targeting hotels has increased now that they have been directed to meet daily arrest quotas of 1,200–1,500 arrests per day. Agents also may feel more empowered to put pressure on guests in public areas, such as lobbies, to show IDs, though guests still are not required to answer their questions and demands as of now.

The bad news is that the chances of a raid happening at your host venue has just increased, which, if it was to occur, could disrupt the event. However, while Trump’s executive orders expand ICE’s operational reach and intensity, they do not, at least for now, legally override constitutional protections against warrantless searches. That said, there may be a higher risk that agents will overreach in their efforts to fulfill their quotas, so it may be a good idea for planners to inform their attendees of their legal rights should they be asked to provide proof of citizenship ID during their meeting or event.

Important caveat: This article outlines some of the basic outlines of current rules and legalities as available at press time, but things are changing rapidly, and there may be local variations to consider. As always, contact your legal representative to determine what you can do to protect your attendees, sponsors and other meeting stakeholders from this or other potential risks.