Boycott Avelo: End ICE Deportation Flights

The shocking news that Avelo airlines in East Haven signed a contract with ICE for deportation flights brought urgent demands to Andrew Levy, Avelo’s CEO, that the company stop or else lose customers and state financial support.

“Making money off of dehumanizing people isn’t good business. It’s despicable.” said the New Haven Immigrant Coalition. In one week, more than 32,000 supporters signed an on-line pledge to boycott Avelo until they cancel ICE flights.

Reports indicate passengers are shackled at their hands and feet. Flight attendants are told not to make eye contact. Pilots and guards have told flight attendants that in case of emergency, evacuate guards but there is no plan to evacuate shackled passengers.

The Mayor of New Haven, Governor and Attorney General have spoken out and an investigation of public finds is underway. Supporters are rallying in large numbers at Tweed Airport in New Haven, and at other Avelo hub regions.

“Together, we can show corporations motivated entirely by greed that we won’t be silent in the face of their complicity. We won’t pay for their services while they profit from transporting shackled people to prisons in countries known for their human rights abuses.,” said the Coalition.

In related actions, demands grow to release Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, sheetmetal worker and father, to the United States after being mistakenly deported to a high security prison in El Salvador. .

Gwen Mills, president of Unite Here said “Both a federal judge and the Supreme Court have ordered the White House to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return home, but the Administration is arguing they can’t return him because he is in Salvadoran custody. The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) is leading the call for his return. Tens of thousands of UNITE HERE members are immigrants like Abrego Garcia. We work hard every day to support our families and expect our fundamental rights to be respected.”

Mills urged calls to members of Congress asking they publicly call on the White House to return Abrego Gardia to his family.

Hands Off! Rallying for our Future in Connecticut

Hands Off rallies on April 5 brought millions of people across the country into the streets to demand a stop to illegal cuts to social programs, public worker firings, deportations with no due process, environmental devastation, trade wars and more by the billionaire Trump-Musk fascist-minded regine.

In Connecticut, about 15,000 people in 24 towns marched and rallied in record numbers on April 5. Organizing is now underway for upcoming mobilizations on April 19 in Hartford to support SB 8 unemployment insurance for striking workers and on May 1 in Hartford at 10:30 am at Bushnell Park and New Haven at 5 pm on the New Haven Green for May Day International Workers Day.

NEW HAVEN

On April 5, three thousand workers, retirees, comrades and activists united on the downtown New Haven Green with New Haven Indivisible joined by allies of the New Haven Rising coalition and leadership from the New Haven Federation of Teachers and community and local labor unions members, and first time rally-goers to deliver a powerful message to Elon Musk and President Trump: 'Hands Off!' Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our public schools. Hands off our Medicare. Hands off our jobs. Hands off our unions and contracts.

The lively crowd, armed with protest signs and banners, gathered on the New Haven Green to voice their opposition to President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Among the signs were messages like “DOGE is not legit” and “Why does Elon have your Social Security info?”. Rev Scott Marks, director of New Haven Rising declared, “We aim to use this demonstration to demand that Trump and Musk take their hands off the programs that middle-class and working families rely on.” Rally speakers and organizers echoed the same message, stating, “Enough is enough. It is time for all of us in Connecticut to rise up and fight back for what we believe in.” said youth activist Ambar Santiago-Rojas. The rally also spotlighted critical issues such as preserving Medicaid, Social Security, immigrant rights, LGBTQ rights, the courts, and democracy. Following the rally, the massive crowd poured into the downtown streets of New Haven, chanting, “whose streets?, our streets!”

NEW LONDON

Close to 1,000 union members, peace activists, civil servants, retirees, students, migrants, and working people stood in front of the New London County Courthouse to call for a stop to the Trump/Musk Coup, to demand the Bill of Rights be protected from attack, and to rally to the defense of unions, civil servants, and our public programs. The Court House, which has been in continual use since the 1780s, is fittingly located at a five-way intersection across the street from the New London Public Library and just a few short blocks away from the landing-point of the Amistad, within sight of the State Pier and its towering windmills, and among several churches and public housing.

The police struggled in good spirits to keep the masses from meeting in the middle of the road, but whenever the crossing-light changed, dozens of working people would cross the street to cheers.

This street crossing symbolized a unifying of movements and issues. From the Court House, there were speakers demanding due process for all peoples, the liberation of detainees, and the end of the Palestinian genocide. From the Public Library, there were demands that Trump keep his hands off our public education and teachers unions. From the Amistad, there were calls for protecting the LGBTQ+ community and youth. From the State Pier, environmentalists called for a protection of our ecosystem. From the apartment blocks, working people called for billionaires to keep their hands off Social Security, housing assistance, and Medicaid.

When the lights changed and the crossings paused, cars drove through the heart of the movement. Taking in the signs, sounds, and energy of working class solidarity, the drivers would, almost instinctively, honk their horns to signal their solidarity. For hours, this five-way intersection stood as the thunderous heart of a working class tired of being oppressed.

An elder walked into the intersection, overcome with emotion. With tears in his eyes, he could be heard saying, “This is America, this is America.”

NIANTIC

A chill April wind blowing across the railroad tracks from Long Island Sound and sporadic rain failed to dampen an enthusiastic Hands Off! rally at the Niantic Green. Surrounding three sides of the T intersection of CT State routes 156 and 161 stood about 300 winter-coated and umbrellaed residents, 10% of the population. Several gray-haired women in parkas and raincoats shouted from the curb to the passing traffic “Beep! Beep!” and received honks from cars and many pickup trucks in response. An engineer also blew the horn of an accelerating train.

The mainly senior crowd included teen-agers, small children and dogs on leashes. They held hand drawn signs including “Tax the Rich,” “If you think it’s bad now, just wait,” “Hands off Social Security.” One creative protester’s sign read “Porsche - Fast, Ferrari - Faster, Tesla - Fascist” referring to the electric car company multi-billionaire and President Trump’s favorite government assassin Elon Musk purchased and is CEO of.

Under a small covered gazebo a few elected officials encouraged the crowd. One was State Senator Martha Marx who said the only way to save us from the dictatorial Trump policies was for people to be out in the streets. In Niantic, we were. 

WATERBURY and TORRINGTON

The Hands Off rally in Waterbury was modest in size but it was a wonderful development. Usually the town of Waterbury sits protests out. This time residents felt compelled to come together.

In Torrington people gathered at the Post Office lining both sides of the street. The crowd was many people deep. The rally wass very spirited and attended by multiple State Representatives and Congressman John Larson who greeted each person and spoke about the need to mobilize in order to save Social Security.

HARTFORD

It was raining by 3 pm but that did not deter the crowd of 2500 at the North Steps of the State Capitol, holding creative signs and cheering for messages of encouragement, determination and solidarity. Attorney General William Tong listed four more lawsuits he filed this week, winning four more stays on Executive Orders that cut funding for healthcare, public museums and libraries, and fomented deportations with no due process. “Trump is flooding the zone, so I am flooding the zone. He wants to exhaust us. I am not exhausted, are you exhausted?” he asked and the crowd roared NO. In the crowd were veterans of many struggles alongside those who were coming out for the first time to protest. One woman said her first protest was Black Lives Matter and now she was compelled to come out again to stop the devastation and racism underway. It was fun to be there with the YCL, but we never did get all our people to one spot because the crowd was so dense it was hard to move. The poet laureaut of Manchester offered a powerful rendition of an original work. Bette Marafino spoke of the dangerous attack underway in an attempt to steal and privatize our earned Social Security to give more tax cuts to billionaires. A powerful speker from the LGBTQ community received applause and support. In the friendly atmosphere everyone was looking out for one another, making the rally more powerful.  This is not a one and done, this a movement and we are on the move!

WE ARE MANY - THEY ARE FEW - STOP THE BILLIONAIRE COUP!        Annual May Day Rally hosted by Connecticut People's World on Saturday May 3 at 6 pm at 267 Chapel St, New Haven.  May Day Around the World slide show, songs of resistance, demands for our future.  See you there. 

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.”

Demand Grows for Just Cause Eviction Protection

 

Tenants turned out at the State Capitol this week in support of Just Cause Eviction Protection (HB 6889) with the Connecticut Tenants Union, Make the Road Connecticut, and the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

Just Cause requires landlords to provide a justification for an eviction—grounds for which are listed in state law—and protects tenants from arbitrary, retaliatory, and discriminatory evictions at the time of lease renewal or when tenants lack a written or annual lease. An existing Connecticut law extends this protection to certain tenants, and in 2025, unionized tenants and their allies are asking the state to expand those protections. So far, 31 members of the General Assembly have signed on as co-sponsors.

HB 6889 will provide immediate relief to Connecticut’s tenants facing rising rents, forced displacement, and homelessness. It will extend stability and legal protection to all tenants in apartment buildings with 5 or more units, making it easier for neighbors to organize with one another to ensure their homes are safe and healthy. It will begin to level the playing field between tenants and landlords. This is an essential measure that will ensure greater housing stability for tenants amidst a deepening housing crisis.

The fight of tenants to expand eviction protections takes place in a climate of widespread anxiety over the federal government’s defunding of critical housing programs, including fair housing enforcement; threats to Medicaid and Social Security; escalating attacks against LGBTQ persons, immigrants of all legal statuses, critics of the government, and other targeted populations; and the increasingly blatant control of billionaires over federal policy. 

Tenants connected the fight for Just Cause to the larger political context of the moment and implored Connecticut lawmakers to prove to their constituents that Connecticut government works for all of its residents, not just those few the Trump administration deems worthy. Tenants called upon their representatives to pass this vital policy to protect people’s homes, strengthen community cohesion and stability, and empower some of our state’s most frequently targeted and exploited residents. Call your state representative and state senator to insist they support HB 5889.

Health care workers sound the alarm on federal funding cuts

The unions representing workers at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) are sounding the alarm following the abrupt termination of six federally funded CDC grants essential to infectious disease tracking, prevention, and immunization.

“These cuts, orchestrated by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services under the influence of billionaire Elon Musk, represent yet another blow to public health infrastructure and the frontline workers who sustain it,” they said.

In response to Connecticut losing $155 million in feddral aid for public health, state senator Saud Anwar, a doctor, said “This is a public health disaster. This is an assault on the people of the state of Connecticut, on the children, even the newborns.”

He called for increased state funding with “a serious conversation about fiscal guardrail reform,” referring to demands to lower the fiscal guardrails or roadblocks being used to maintain a large state surplus despite urgent human needs.

The federal grants supported programs that saved and improved lives with members who are epidemiologists, lab scientists, nurses, health educators, and administrators working directly to protect the public from infectious disease outbreaks, ensure vaccine access and safety, and prepare our state to respond quickly when threats emerge.

“The sudden termination of this funding jeopardizes this work and will have far reaching consequences for the people of our state.,” said the unions who indicated they are “working with many others to reverse these cuts and prevent others.  In the eyes of some billionaires,  human beings who depend on public services – all of us – and the workers who provide them, are disposable.   We are not.  We cannot allow our vital public health functions to become collateral damage in DC’s budget wars.”

The Connecticut Congressional delegation called the cuts “illegal and morally bankfrupt,” while Attorney General William Tong announced a law suit being filed by Connecticut and other states.

Protests to the cuts in human services are among the demands on April 5 when thousands of Connecticut residents in 20 towns are participating in a “Hands Off” nationally coordinated day of action.