Boycott Avelo Airlines for Collaboration with ICE

 

An enraged community responded immediately when New Haven based Avelo airlines announced it would be partnering with ICE to deport targeted immigrants. Mayor Justin Elicker and Attorney General William Tong each said the company's collaboration with ICE is unacceptable. The New Haven Immigrants Coalition launched a petition pledging to boycott the airline which got over 6,000 signatures in a matter of hours. “We won't fly Avelo until they stop ICE flights! ¡No volaremos con Avelo!” says the petition. In nieghboring East Haven residents gathered to demand “CT! Cancel Fuel Tax Contract with Avelo! “

The petition reads: “We demand that AVELO AIR halt plans to carry out deportation flights in cooperation with the Trump Administration. 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.

Avelo Air confirms that they have signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigration Control and Enforcement agency (ICE) to carry out deportation flights from Mesa, Arizona and are currently recruiting staff. A leaked internal memo states that the deportation flights will make up for operating losses at Tweed Airport, thereby funding New Haven’s airport through cruel deportation practices. New Haven is Avelo’s largest hub, with more flights in and out of HVN than any other airport.

Avelo has taken full advantage of a two year fuel tax moratorium from the State of Connecticut to expand its operations at Bradley and Tweed airports. On June 30th, six weeks after Avelo starts ICE flights, the free pass on Avelo’s fuel tax bill in Connecticut expires. We further demand that the CT legislature NOT renew this massive tax cut for Avelo that would effectively provide state subsidy for Trump Administration deportation practices.

Trump's cruel policies go against everything we stand for. These flights are inhumane, dangerous, and, in some cases, illegal. They transport vulnerable people, including children and women, out of the country, at times without due process. Read what ProPublica has to say about ICE flights.

We reject the Trump Administration’s inhumane deportation practices, reject cooperation from the  State of Connecticut in support of Avelo as long as they are complicit in these practices, and pledge to boycott Avelo as long as they are profiting from ICE flights.

AG Tong made public a letter he sent to Avelo. “Let’s be clear what these flights are doing. These are flights separating parents from their children. These are flights where people—men, women and children — are shackled in handcuffs, waist chains and leg irons, where flight attendants have said there is no safe plan to evacuate people in an emergency. No one is forcing Avelo to operate these flights. If reporting is accurate, Avelo has freely chosen to profit from and facilitate these atrocities. The State of Connecticut has an obligation now to review this business decision and to consider the viability of our choice to support Avelo.”