XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans   
   From: j_d@invalid.org   
      
   Simple, commandeer the gas stations and hotels, or deploy the national   
   guard to provide housing and logistics.  Jail anyone who objects in   
   GITMO.   
      
   A string of recent incidents in which ICE agents and Department of   
   Homeland Security leadership have been refused service at corporate gas   
   stations and hotel chains has raised questions about whether private   
   businesses can lawfully deny service to federal law enforcement   
   officers.   
      
   The incidents — including ICE agents who were turned away from hotels   
   and a Border Patrol commander being denied service at a gas station —   
   have prompted debate over whether such refusals amount to lawful private   
   discretion or illegal discrimination against federal law enforcement   
   carrying out official duties.   
      
   The most recent flashpoint unfolded at a Speedway gas station, where   
   video captured by conservative activist Cam Higby showed U.S. Border   
   Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino being followed out of the store by a man   
   identifying himself as a manager.   
      
   Bovino himself was silent on the matter when asked by Higby among the   
   crowd outside Speedway, while Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Tricia   
   McLaughlin said similar situations had transpired at several different   
   gas stations where agitators stalked agents.   
      
   When Higby asked the man why he refused Bovino service, he replied:   
   "Because I wanted to. I don’t support ICE and nobody here does."   
      
   The man remained silent when asked if he thought it was legal to deny   
   service to federal agents based on their role, while the employee could   
   be heard saying, "If it is [illegal] I personally don’t care."   
      
   Fox News Digital reached out to Speedway and its parent company,   
   7-Eleven, for a response. An employee who picked up the corporate phone   
   line said he would forward this reporter’s message to the "proper   
   department," but no comment was returned.   
      
   The incident follows other similar situations, including the case of a   
   then-Hampton Inn-branded hotel in nearby Lakeville, Minnesota, where   
   employees repeatedly refused service to ICE agents; canceling   
   reservations and asking them to "pass on" the news they were unwelcome.   
      
   Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also denied entry to a   
   building in a Chicago suburb to use the restroom.   
      
   After public apologies from Hilton and the franchisee, Everpeak   
   Hospitality, Hilton eventually took corrective action by removing the   
   inn from its rolls and even sending a crane to remove its Hampton Inn   
   sign from the roadside.   
      
   Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta later told The Guardian that it also   
   closed a DoubleTree hotel where ICE agents were staying after the   
   property received bomb threats.   
      
   Nassetta suggested a distinction in the two cases: "A safety and   
   security issue is a different issue — it’s closed to all."   
      
   Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for North Florida Zack Smith told Fox   
   News Digital that, from a practical standpoint, the behavior of people   
   like the Speedway manager as reported was wrong.   
      
   "It’s shameful conduct to try to penalize men and women who are going   
   out, day in and day out, seeking to enforce federal… law, seeking to   
   penalize them and refusing to provide them services," said Smith,   
   currently a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Institute   
   for Constitutional Government.   
      
   "We've seen this in the past, particularly when a lot of emotions were   
   high in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, in other   
   places where individuals were refusing service to law enforcement."   
      
   Smith said in an exclusive interview that while the businesses may   
   retain the legal right to deny Bovino or others services, it doesn’t   
   make it right.   
      
   "I think that's shameful conduct and, at the end of the day, it   
   ultimately has harmed many of those businesses. Now, in terms of whether   
   businesses have the right to turn away law enforcement officers, just   
   because they may have the right to do it doesn't make it the right thing   
   morally to do."   
      
   The best recourse, Smith said, is not a legal one — but the power that   
   every American consumer has. That appeared to be the case after the   
   Speedway tape went viral and critics promised to stop patronizing the   
   otherwise ubiquitous convenience store chain.   
      
   After Bovino was blocked from Speedway, conservative ire erupted online   
   at the chain and its parent 7-Eleven — including for not publicly   
   addressing the situation in any prominent way, as Hilton had.   
      
   "I suspect part of that is the reason, you mentioned earlier, that   
   Hilton was revoking the franchise of some hotels that refuse to honor   
   reservations for federal law enforcement [is] they understand that many   
   consumers are not going to approve or like it when businesses are   
   refusing service to individuals simply because they are members of law   
   enforcement," Smith said.   
      
   https://www.foxnews.com/politics/i-dont-support-ice-gas-station-refusal-i   
   gnites-debate-over-denying-service-federal-agents   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)