Chip Roy proposes pausing immigration to stop Gujarati hotel ownership
The 1965 Hart-Celler Act replaced national-origin quotas with family sponsorship; the resulting chain migration plus no-interest community loans and family labor let one undocumented Gujarati's 1942 lease scale into a self-financing ownership network that quietly shifted billions in room revenue from corporate chains to independent operators.
The 1965 Hart-Celler Act replaced national-origin quotas with family sponsorship; the resulting chain migration plus no-interest community loans and family labor let one undocumented Gujarati's 1942 lease scale into a self-financing ownership network that quietly shifted billions in room revenue from corporate chains to independent operators.
Congressman Chip Roy on July 13 called for a full pause on legal immigration, reopening the post-1965 family-preference system that enabled Gujarati networks to own 60 percent of U.S. hotels.
Why it matters: Any pause or rewrite of family-based categories changes who can sponsor the next generation of owners, the local tax base those properties support, and the share of consumer lodging dollars that stay inside family-held small businesses rather than public REITs.
Date to watch: End of the 119th Congress when the PAUSE Act and related legal-immigration language must advance or die.
Sources:
- AAHOA Oxford Economics Ownership Study (2023-01-01)
https://www.aahoa.com/about/about-aahoa/oxford-study-new - U.S. National Archives Public Law 89-236 (1965-10-03)
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/470796474 - U.S. House History Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (1965-10-03)
https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965/ - AAHOA About Page (2026-01-01)
https://www.aahoa.com/about/about-aahoa - Patel Hotel History Kanji Manchhu Desai Biography (2024-01-01)
https://patelhotelhistory.com/kanji-manchhu-desai-biography/ - Rep. Chip Roy Letter to Republican Colleagues (2026-07-13)
http://roy.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-roy-outlines-what-republicans-must-do-end-119th-congress
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