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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAvelo faces backlash for deportation flights
April 30, 20253:08 PM ET
Joel Rose
Avelo Airlines got a warm welcome from travelers and politicians in Connecticut when the budget carrier brought non-stop flights to Tweed New Haven Airport.
But that reception has turned chilly after Avelo announced a contract to begin operating deportation flights for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE starting next month. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the New Haven airport earlier this month to denounce the move.
"To the president of Avelo: You really stepped in it," Richard Blumenthal, the state's senior U.S. Senator, said at one of those protests. "You made a bad mistake" ...
Between 8 and 10 ICE contracted planes a day carry passengers in shackles and leg chains, Cartwright said, both inside the U.S. and on deportation flights around the globe ...
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/30/g-s1-63572/avelo-airlines-deportation-flights-backlash

dem4decades
(12,721 posts)What exactly does New Haven gain from Avelo being at Tweed Airport? The neighborhood hates them, Democrats now hate them. I won't fly with them.
msongs
(71,179 posts)LauraInLA
(1,831 posts)HAB911
(9,616 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(162,487 posts)Protests are breaking out across the U.S. against Avelo Airlines after it agreed to help the administration carry out deportations.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/avelo-airlines-protests-trump-deportation-flights-rcna203762
When it comes to the principle of the matter here when it comes to the Trump administrations mass deportation program and locking people up indefinitely in a foreign prison without any opportunity to contest the allegations against them it is one thing to engage with this as a member of the public. When it comes to the public, you can see from the polling, the protests and the signs people are holding on street corners, that they are repulsed by what Trump is doing and the way he is treating immigrants and the way he is handling deportations. Among the public, there is a big national backlash against that......
Avelo responded by not answering any of those questions. Instead, the airline told Connecticuts attorney general that he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation and advised him that if he wants a copy of its contract with the Trump administration, he is welcome to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the government.
The airline did, however, add this: Avelo remains committed to public safety and the rule of law, as evidenced by our public, continuous, and persistent compliance with all federal regulations governing commercial air travel in the United States.
In a statement, Tong called Avelos letter insulting and condescending to the people of Connecticut who have invested in and committed millions of dollars to Avelos success.
Whats more, telling the Office of the Attorney General to pound sand and to ask the Department of Homeland Security for a copy of their contract through FOIA is a callous back-of-the-hand that shows they really dont care what we think, Tong wrote. It is clear all they intend to do is take state support and make money off other peoples suffering.