There’s pushback in New Haven after Avelo Airlines agreed to charter deportation flights for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Dozens rallied outside Tweed-New Haven Airport calling for a boycott on the airline.
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WATCH HEREAvelo Airlines said the agreement gives them stability to expand and keep employees. They say the deportation flights would be leaving from Arizona.
"One of the most terrible things our government has done in a long time,” Pat Cotton, a protester from Branford, said.
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SIGN UP Over two dozen people taking to Tweed said they are boycotting Avelo Airlines, if they maintain their agreement with ICE.
“This is a decision against humanity, this is a decision against human rights, the Constitution, and everything we stand for in America in terms of basic human rights,” Cheryl Wilcox, a protester from Guilford, said.
“For the customers to see us here protesting and learning how much pain this company is going to cause in our community is also very important,” John Lugo of the organization Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA) said.
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ULA and other grassroots organizations organized the protest. Some pointed out that New Haven is a sanctuary city, saying this decision goes against its values, which is a sentiment Mayor Justin Elicker agreed with.
That’s why the group is trying to stop deportation flights all together. On the state level, they’re calling on the legislature to not renew its tax break on aviation fuel from Avelo, set to expire in June from a 2023 decision.
Chair of the House Finance Committee Rep. Maria Horn (D) told NBC Connecticut in an email that as a lawyer, she’s deeply disturbed by the “lawless deportations being conducted by the Trump administration.”
“I cannot imagine choosing to participate in this lawlessness, as Avelo has done, and accordingly have no interest in extending the significant tax benefit we extended them in 2023,” Horn said.
In response to the protest, Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff said the airline acknowledges the weight of the protesters' concerns.
“We will be discussing these concerns with Connecticut leaders,” Goff said.
In a statement from earlier this week, Avelo acknowledged that this was a sensitive and complicated topic.
“We also flew these charters under the Biden administration. 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. We follow all protocols from DHS and FAA, honoring our core value of safety always,” Goff said earlier this week.
Avelo said its first deportation flight is set to take off from Arizona starting May 12.
