Dear John,

Avelo Airlines is a small, low-cost airline based in Houston, Texas. In addition to its east and west coast passenger routes, it has added another business deal: flying both domestic and international deportation flights for ICE.

That means this so-called “family airline” is now making money from tearing families apart, flying immigrants, asylum seekers, even children into danger in shackles and silence.

Sign our petition to Avelo demanding they end their deportation contract with ICE.

These flights are violent, secretive, and inhumane. They’ve shackled teenagers. Restrained pregnant women. Deported mothers without their babies. All without due process. 

Avelo Airlines has signed a long-term contract with ICE, dedicating three Boeing 737s to deportation flights out of Mesa, Arizona.

These flights often bypass due process and ignore basic humanitarian needs, expelling people who are fleeing not only violence and poverty, but also the crushing weight of U.S. sanctions. In countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, these sanctions strip funding from programs that reduce poverty, strengthen healthcare, and combat climate change. They destabilize entire economies and deepen food insecurity, pushing families to migrate simply to survive. Yet instead of rolling back sanctions, which are a proven root cause of migration, the U.S. government, and now private companies like Avelo, respond with handcuffs and deportation planes.

Avelo’s CEO called the decision to fly deportation routes “controversial,” then admitted it was simply “too valuable not to pursue.” Avelo chose not to invest in better service or community ties, they chose to invest in the deportation machine. They looked at human suffering and saw a business opportunity. 

Now they’re flying shackled migrants out of the country on unmarked planes (no logos, no transparency, no shame). 

Tell Avelo to stop flying for ICE. Add your name to the petition now.

When a company builds its future on disappearing people for ICE, we have to draw the line. We have to pledge never to board their flights, never to fund this violence, and never to let corporate profit come at the cost of human dignity.

We have been putting pressure on the other airline with ICE contracts: GlobalX. Now we’re pressuring Avelo. Let’s shame them into doing the right thing: breaking their contract with ICE. Add your name. Sign the pledge and share it now.

Sign the petition and demand Avelo cancel its ICE contract immediately.

In radical solidarity,
Medea, Michelle, Teri and the ENTIRE CODEPINK Team.