A Minneapolis City Council committee delayed action Tuesday on renewing liquor licenses for two Minneapolis hotels that have housed federal immigration officers.

The committee, made up of all the council members, voted 8-5 to delay a decision on the licenses for Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District and Depot Renaissance Hotel until the next meeting on Feb. 17. The council also voted to schedule a public hearing so residents can weigh in on the matter.

The hotels have been the targets of protests because federal agents were believed to be staying in them during the immigration enforcement surge that has brought 3,000 of them to the state. Two days after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in south Minneapolis, about a thousand people converged outside the two hotels, blowing whistles and banging drums to disrupt agents’ rest.

The move to delay action on the liquor licenses was controversial, with some council members saying denying the licenses would set the city up to be sued and lose. Hotel representatives did not respond to requests for comment. 

Committee Chair Aurin Chowdhury said she felt it was important for the council to have more discussion of the licenses and give the public the chance to share their stories, noting her sister lives on the University of Minnesota campus near two hotels that have housed federal agents, disrupting the lives of neighbors.

Quinn O’Reilly, an attorney for the city, said city staff found the hotels complied with all liquor licensing laws and are eligible to have the licenses renewed. O’Reilly said the council would need facts to support a license revocation.

Amy Lingo, the city’s manager for business licenses, said the hotels can continue to serve liquor until a decision is made by the council.

The five “no” votes came from council members who worried the council has no grounds to deny the renewals: Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Pearll Warren, Elizabeth Shaffer and Linea Palmisano.

Vetaw said she’s received many emails from people about the license renewals, but that the renewals have nothing to do with who stays at the hotels and withholding the licenses would be discriminatory. She said the council shouldn’t give people “false hope” that they can deny the licenses.

“Why are we setting ourselves up for another legal settlement?” Vetaw said.

Chowdhury said hundreds of constituents have reached out about the hotels. She said the council has revoked licenses before for problem businesses and mentioned a case where a Border Patrol agent was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving while assigned in Minnesota.

The more moderate council members were generally opposed to the idea.

Warren said that although what ICE has done in Minneapolis is “sickening ... this just smells real discriminatory to me,” and could open the city up to a lawsuit.

“Let’s not punish businesses that are suffering enough,” she said.

Council President Elliott Payne said it’s fairly routine for the council to evaluate whether there should be conditions added to licenses. He said the council is holding off on the renewal so it can have a “fact-based conversation.”

Council Member Jamison Whiting, who worked for the city attorney’s office before being elected to the council in November, voted for the delay, but said absent a violation, the council has a responsibility to explain to constituents that it has no legal or factual basis to deny the liquor license.

Rainville said he saw the damage done to the two hotels during protests and that both are now losing “a lot of money.”

deena.winter@startribune.com