1 week Ago By USA TODAY
A little-known airline is facing backlash from tens of thousands of people after the company agreed to carry out deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Around 30,000 people have signed a petition to boycott Avelo Airlines over the company’s contract with the federal agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump ’s mass deportation. The boycott of the Texas-based airline comes as federal agents carrying out Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement actions put women in detention centers described as “ hell on earth ,” detain people legally allowed to work in the U.
S. and sent a Maryland man whom a judge had barred from deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The New Haven Immigrants Coalition, an immigrant rights group based in Connecticut where Avelo has a location, created the petition this week for the airline to end the federal contract.
The deportation flights depart from an airport in Arizona. "We demand that AVELO AIR halt plans to carry out deportation flights in cooperation with the Trump Administration," the petition says. "We pledge to boycott the airline until they stop plans to profit off ICE flights that are tearing families and communities apart and removing some legal residents, such as Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, with no recourse for returning to their families.
" Abrego Garcia is the Maryland man the Trump administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador even though he had a protective order barring his expulsion. Avelo's entry into the deportation business comes as the Trump administration needs more planes to move detainees from one state to another and then to deport them from the U.S.
to other countries. Avelo announced the contract with immigration authorities in early April. 'When our country calls .
. . our practice is to say yes' The company pushed back at criticism it faced for accepting the federal contract.
“We acknowledge the weight of these concerns and have received the feedback,” spokesperson Courtney Goff told USA TODAY. “Regardless of the administration or party affiliation, as a U.S.
flag carrier when our country calls and requests assistance our practice is to say yes.” Goff said the airline also carried out deportation flights for the Biden administration. Neither the company nor federal immigration authorities responded to questions about flights under Biden.
The ultra-low-cost airline will fly deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security on three of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport starting on May 12. The flights will travel internationally and domestically. It’s unusual for a commercial airline to carry out deportation flights.
Immigration authorities, the U.S. military or charter airlines typically operate the flights, according to Thomas Cartwright, who tracks deportation flights for immigrant rights group Witness at the Border .
Airline founder and CEO Andrew Levy acknowledged in a prior statement that carrying out deportation fights is a "sensitive and complicated topic." After significant deliberations, the company determined the contract to carry out ICE deportation flights would provide the airline with the "stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 Crewmembers employed for years to come," Levy said. Arizona, as of March, had the fifth highest number of ICE detainees of any state, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Texas has by far the most with over 12,000 detainees. Connecticut lawmakers tout leverage over airline Immigration advocates in Connecticut behind the boycott hope the state has a bit of leverage to get the company to drop its federal contract. The state gave the airline a break on fuel taxes in 2023 that company Chief Financial Officer Hunter Keavy touted as a major driver of its business in a letter to Connecticut legislators in February.
“We are now 77% bigger in Connecticut compared to only 7% bigger outside the state,” Keavy said. Connecticut lawmakers have already shown an interest in scratching the tax break by introducing a proposal to prohibit companies contracting with state agencies from serving immigration authorities, according to a report by The Connecticut Mirror . “State taxpayers are helping prop that company up and keep that company operational.
But then they turn around and they are then using those same planes that we’re helping to subsidize, to deport individuals out of this country,” state Representative Steven Stafstrom said according to the local outlet. “I don’t think that’s how we should be spending our state tax dollars.” Daniel Gonzalez is a reporter for the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Michael Loria is a breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Avelo Airlines faces boycotts over ICE deportation flights.
