Couple denied motel room after clerk says Puerto Rican driver's license is not U.S. ID

[DesertRat]

Remember when Motel 6 gave guest lists to ICE agents looking for Latino-sounding names?

A Puerto Rican couple visiting California for their niece’s wedding said they were unable to check into a Rancho Cordova Motel 6 because the front desk clerk didn’t believe they had valid U.S. identification.

When Raul Villanueva presented his Puerto Rico driver’s license late Wednesday night, the clerk told him, “Oh, you need a license from the United States,” he said.

“I said, ‘This is a license from the United States, that’s Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is the United States.’ She said, ‘No, it isn’t,’” Villanueva recalled.

Villanueva needed his ID in order to verify his reservation. The woman working at the front desk then asked for his and his wife’s passports, which he reluctantly retrieved.

“She wouldn’t take the passports after all," Villanueva said. "When I brought them she said, ‘No, I won’t take it. I won’t take that.' So I said, ‘OK, then give me my money back.’”

http://www.wtae.com/article/couple-denied-motel-room-after-clerk-says-puerto-rican-drivers-license-is-not-us-id/20916694

Link to tweet

[Wounded Bear]

1. Anybody else getting the irony...

of a motel named Rancho fucking Cordova denying service to a Hispanic family?

[Merlot]

5. Rancho Cordova is the name of the city

[Wounded Bear]

15. It doesn't lessen the irony...

[tonedevil]

27. I live in Sacramento...

Rancho Cordova is a nearby suburb. From my observation they marinate in that irony.

[Wounded Bear]

33. I lived in Orange County for nearly 30 years...

I understand.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Is it one of those Motel 6

where they rent rooms by the hour? I hope the couple found better accommodations elsewhere.

[wcmagumba]

3. Wasn't it Motel 6 in another...

western state (maybe Oregon or Washington) that got busted for faxing their register list
to ICE? Assholes...must be in their corporate DNA...

[dalton99a]

4. Motel 6 chain in Washington State

There is a lawsuit by the state's attorney general

[wcmagumba]

6. and they'll "Leave the light on for you"...

unless you are from Puerto Rico where the lights are literally-Not on- for lots of people since the hurricanes
last year...oh the irony, it burns...

[GeorgeGist]

7. No lights on.

[lunasun]

8. Don't people traveling use hotels ??? Some do not arrive by car . How can a passport not be validID?

On the company’s website, it says, “All guests registering must be 18 years of age (19-21 years of age required at some locations) and must present photo identification upon check-in.”
That's it

Sorry but I am at the point where I believe the only way to change this behavior is to sue for the invonvience , discrimination, and loss of the reserved room without notice, through no fault of thier own. Corps don't care unless $$$ are lost

[YessirAtsaFact]

26. I was thinking that the ACLU should start filling

Lawsuits for crap like this

[MineralMan]

9. The ignorance of the average American cannot be underestimated.

I can imagine something like this happening almost anywhere. That desk clerk probably knows nothing about the country that matters. Besides, even if Puerto Rico weren't part of the USA, what if someone tried to check in there from France or Germany?

Stupidity is far too common. If I owned that hotel, that clerk would be looking for work this morning.

[elleng]

12. True. I traveled on business years ago,

from my home and business (as a federal government employee) in Washington DC to a small town in Washington STATE, and I had to persuade the desk clerk that people actually LIVE in Washington DC.

[Demovictory9]

28. wow

[treestar]

10. If they wouldn't take the passports

they did it out of racism/xenophobia. There is no excuse for not taking that passport. That is the best ID anyone has, no matter what country they are from.

[dawg day]

11. I don't understand - why would a motel insist on US citizenship?

People from other countries are not just allowed to enter the US, but welcomed. Motels and hotels need tourism dollars, after all!
It's like these businesses (Franchisees?) really do care more about being xenophobic than making money. It doesn't make sense.

[DesertRat]

17. I don't understand that either

There so much wtf in this story.

[anneboleyn]

21. This story makes no sense to me. Hotels by their nature cater to international clients

Why in the world would a hotel (and ffs a Motel 6 which is a bargain basement sort of sleeping bag for the night kind of place) be demanding a US id?

This would exclude any customer who wasn’t from the US (as they apparently wouldn’t accept passports either? Wtf?) which makes no sense for a hotel (and that hotel is not exactly in an isolated location either).

[struggle4progress]

13. "We learned about Puerto Rico in school! It's in Africa, near Hawaii!"

[KelleyKramer]

20. I guess it's one of those 'shithole countries' ?

Maybe that's what it was

[madaboutharry]

32. Post of the day!

Excellent:

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Alas, this kind of thing happens all the time to residents of New Mexico.

It hasn't happened to me, and if it did, I'd laugh out loud at the ignorance, but the state magazine has a column called "One of Our Fifty is Missing" about incidents where someone didn't believe New Mexico isn't a state.

[DesertRat]

16. I've heard many stories about this

from friends in NM.

[ProudLib72]

19. Yep, happened to me all the time when I lived in CT and had NM license plates

"Oh, you speak really good English."

What a bunch of morans!

[drray23]

30. it did happen to me when i was liiving in albuquerque and traveled out of state

I was asked if they speak english over there and do they use dollars..

[lame54]

18. Since when does one have to be a U.S. citizen to rent a motel room...

we do see tourists from around the world

[anneboleyn]

22. My question as well...a *hotel* demanding US citizenship? WTF? That's the opposite of what hotels

do for business practice — the whole point is that a person who is traveling can secure a place to stay —by definition the clients are from elsewhere.

I mean motel 6 barely qualifies anyway (meow) but the idea that they would be rejecting any clients from outside the US is truly bizarre and a very very stupid way of doing business.

[Cha]

24. My first thought as well. nm

[Cha]

23. How stupid to not take vacationers to California..

for the first thing.

[crazycatlady]

25. There's a book of sample IDs that exists

When I worked in banking we had access to this, I also know that bars have a copy of this book. I'm surprised that the hotel front desk did not have this.

[left-of-center2012]

29. People from D.C. have been refused ...

Some time ago I read that some people from our nation's capital were considered non-U.S. citizens because their driver's license read "Washington, District of Columbia".

I think it has since been changed to "Washington. D.C."

Here in New Mexico our license plates read "New Mexico U.S.A." so that (hopefully) people will know we are from the U.S.

[elleng]

31. 'CLOSE' thing happened to me, see # 12 above:

I traveled on business years ago, from my home and business (as a federal government employee) in Washington DC to a small town in Washington STATE, and I had to persuade the desk clerk that people actually LIVE in Washington DC.

I don't know what the DC license says now, as I've moved to Maryland.

[Crunchy Frog]

34. Isn't this a violation of current civil rights law?

They basically refused service to people based on their race/ethnicity.

Also wish they would ID the specific motel, and racist employee.

[mainer]

35. What if they were tourists from Germany?

They would’t have US ID either. So no foreign tourists in Motel 6? This is outrageous.

[Cicada]

36. My aunt in New Mexico says sometimes delivery is refused because they only deliver to US.

[Roland99]

37. What if someone from China or the UK or Australia was visiting??