When 20-year-old Gia spotted federal immigration agents Wednesday at the Hilton Anatole, she did the first thing that came to mind: She grabbed her phone and began filming.
“Quite frankly, I don’t really care if I lose my job,” she said in a video posted to TikTok. “I care more about your families and about unity.”
By the end of the day, Gia, who asked to be identified only by her first name for safety reasons, was fired. A manager asked her to delete the video, she told The Dallas Morning News on Thursday. When she declined, she was told she had violated the company’s social media policy and was fired from the Hilton’s third-party valet company.
A spokesperson for the Hilton Anatole, which is in Dallas’ Design District just north of downtown, said the hotel spoke with third-party parking company, Towne Park, after learning of the video.
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“We respect the privacy of all our guests…,” the Hilton said. “Our hotels are places of public accommodation and strive to always be welcoming places for all.”
In a statement, Towne Park said the employee “violated our business conduct policy and is no longer employed by our company.”
The initial TikTok video and follow-ups have received tens of thousands of views and shares on TikTok, where many expressed outrage over her firing and some suggested boycotting the hotel chain. Gia said she has received numerous threats on the social media platform.
Gia, who is in college studying to become a nurse, said she posted the video because she worries innocent people will be jailed and families separated by immigration officers.
The video shows unmarked cars purportedly belonging to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, but not agents’ faces. She said she was particularly worried for hotel employees and wanted to spread the message that ICE agents were on the ground.
“I’m not trying to be political,” she said. “But our civil rights are being stripped away. They’re being unraveled.”
The videos come days after a Hampton Inn in Minnesota refused to allow federal immigration agents to stay at the hotel. The Department of Homeland Security accused Hilton of deliberately undermining and impeding law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws.
Hilton apologized and said the refusal violated its policies. Hampton Inn locations are under the Hilton brand, but a Hilton representative said the property was independently operated.
Tensions between ICE and communities across the country have risen dramatically in recent months as the Trump administration pursues a sweeping mass deportation program.
On Wednesday, an unidentified ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Macklin Good. Federal authorities said the agent shot his firearm in self defense, but officials in Minneapolis have challenged that account.
In September, a gunman opened fire on the ICE office in Dallas, killing two detainees and critically wounding one before taking his own life.