Protests Target Avelo Airlines Over Secretive ICE Deportation Flight.

• Avelo, a low-cost airline founded in 2021, signed on this year as a subcontractor in a Department of Homeland Security deportation program, operating charter flights for ICE largely out of Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona.• The deal, funneled through long‑time ICE contractor CSI Aviation, has sparked a coordinated boycott and wave of airport protests from New England to the West Coast.• On Sunday, immigrant rights coalitions plan synchronized demonstrations at Avelo-linked airports in at least five states, including a high‑profile action outside Tweed–New Haven Airport in Connecticut from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on December 28.• Organizers say the timing—at the peak of holiday travel—is deliberate, aiming to confront vacationers with the reality that some Avelo flights are used to expel people from the country, often far from their families.• More than 40,000 people have signed online pledges vowing not to fly Avelo until it cancels its deportation contract, amplifying local pickets into a national boycott drive.• At Manchester–Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire and other Avelo destinations, recurring protests urge travelers to choose other airlines and accuse Avelo of profiting from human suffering.• The backlash is not limited to activists: Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has publicly blasted Avelo’s leadership for stonewalling his office’s inquiries about the deportation program.• Tong demanded to see the terms of the contract and asked whether Avelo would transport shackled minors or people without valid removal orders; Avelo’s CEO responded by directing him to file a federal records request with Homeland Security, further inflaming tensions.• Avelo maintains that it does not contract directly with ICE, framing its work for CSI Aviation as a “long‑term charter program” that provides financial stability and protects jobs at a time of intense price competition in the airline industry.• Civil rights advocates counter that the company has crossed a bright moral line, and they are now pressuring governors, legislators, and local airport authorities to strip Avelo of public subsidies and access unless it walks away from the deportation business.Thanks for reading Totally Exposed! This post is public so feel free to share it.Thanks for reading Totally Exposed! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit totallyexposedbynavarro.substack.com