Avelo Airlines Ends ICE Deportation Flights After Monthslong Protest and National Boycott Campaign

Excerpts of speeches at a New Haven, CT rally celebrating the end of Avelo Airlines' deportation flights and mourning of Renee Good killed by ICE in Minneapolis, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus

avelo boycott campaign victory

When Avelo Airlines, a U.S. regional budget carrier serving smaller airports announced on Jan. 8 that it will be ending its deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement later this month, opponents of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign had reason to celebrate. 

In late April last year, when immigrant rights activists in New Haven, CT learned that Avelo would be flying deportation flights out of an airport in Arizona, they launched a protest campaign and boycott of the airline that soon went national. The company acknowledged they were joining the deportation business to boost their bottom line, in light of more competition on the civilian side of their business. 

The Boycott Avelo campaign included a petition signed by more than 40,000 people. Not all were potential customers, but the national scope of the campaign was a reputational hit. Boycotters claimed victory when the company announced that it will withdraw from the ICE deportation flights as of Jan. 27, purely as a business decision. In response to the announcement, more than 100 people rallied in downtown New Haven to celebrate. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus was there and brings us excerpts of some of the speeches.

We hear first from Pramica, a Yale law student.

PRAMICA: It was because of the coordinated efforts of organizers from New Haven to Baltimore to Mesa to Salem to Massachusetts to Maine to North Carolina and beyond. We organized tirelessly for months against this airline. It was because of all of the people of New Haven, the people of conscience of New Haven who decided, “Not here, not in our city.”

MELINDA TUHUS: That was Prǒmica. Next is Kika Matos, a longtime New Haven resident and president of the National Immigration Law Center.
KIKA MATOS: New Haven and Connecticut said, “Uh-uh.” And we led the way. For months, community members, organizers and local leaders kept the pressure on. We organized. We protested, we boycotted. And we said we would not stop until Avelo stopped being complicit in human suffering. Over time, a local fight became a national campaign.

Finally, this week, Avelo caved. And today, we celebrate. Let this be a reminder that when We fight …

CROWD: We win!

KIKA MATOS: When we fight….

CROWD: We win!

KIKA MATOS: When we fight?

CROWD: We win!

KIKA MATOS: But this victory does not mean that the struggle is over. Far from it. Because ICE is still on our streets, kidnapping our neighbors, terrorizing our families and acting like lawless thugs with badges. They were here today in this block, snatching people away in broad daylight and it is happening everywhere. ICE is acting with impunity and there is no accountability. Are we going to let this happen?

CROWD: No!

KIKA MATOS: Are we going to fight back?

CROWD: Yeah!

KIKA MATOS: Are we going to fight for justice?

CROWD: Yeah!

KIKA MATOS: No justice.

CROWD: No peace.

KIKA MATOS: No justice!

CROWD: No peace!

KIKA MATOS: No justice!

CROWD: No peace!

MELINDA TUHUS: That was Kika Matos with the National Immigration Law Center. Next up is the Rev. Scott Marks, executive director of New Haven Rising, a community organization fighting for good jobs at Yale University.

REV. SCOTT MARKS: Acknowledging the victory, we give thanks today for the power of our collective voices. Let us be clear. Change did not happen by chance. Avelo Airlines did not simply pivot their strategy. They retreated because tens of thousands of us stood together to prove that family separation is a toxic asset.

MELINDA TUHUS: That was the Rev. Scott Marks with New Haven Rising. Next up is Tabitha Sookdeo, director of Connecticut Students for a Dream.

TABITHA SOOKDEO: We are gathered here today because people spoke up. Because communities refused to stay silent. Because we said clearly that no airline should be in the business of deportation and no company should profit from the suffering of our neighbors. Avelo Airlines made the decision to end its contract with the Department of Homeland Security because people organized. It’s also because people protested. People boycotted. There is power in our dollar, because people said that we will not accept seeing human beings flown out of our communities in chains.
This moment matters to us and I hope that it brings us more power. It is proof that people have power. But we also gather here today in grief. Yesterday, as we all know, in Minneapolis, Renee Nicole Goode was shot and killed by ICE agents while trying to protect her neighbors. What happened to her is not separate for why we are here today.
It is part of the same system. A system that dehumanizes. A system that treats immigrant lives as disposable. A system that uses violence and then asks us to look away. We gather in grief and in resistance because this violence is not inevitable. It is a choice and choices can be challenged. Avelo’s decision shows us something important. When people refuse to normalize harm, when we withdraw our money, our support and our silence, institutions are forced to respond. This is what accountability looks like. This is what people power looks like.

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