Activists in New Haven protest Avelo’s deportation partnership

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) – Civil rights groups took a stand in front of Tweed New Haven Airport on Monday.

They protested Avelo Airlines’ chartered deportation flights that were scheduled to take off from an airport in Mesa, AZ.

Twelve civil rights groups took turns standing at Tweed.

“There’s a lot to mourn here today,” said Anne Watkins, New Haven Immigrants Coalition.

They were similar to protests that happened last month.

The groups said they were upset that Avelo partnered with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to fly immigrants out of the country.

The airline said it was an agreement to help the business and cities it serves. It also noted in the past that similar agreements were in place during the Biden administration.

“We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,” said Andrew Levy, Avelo CEO. “After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 crew members employed for years to come.”

However, some living in the community strongly disagreed with the partnership.

“It’s a death of rights, it’s a death of human dignity and understanding,” said Hope Chavez, organizer, New Haven Immigrants Coalition. “My Goodness, these are our neighbors. Even if it’s not neighbors on our street, these are people that were here, were here and building life and trying to thrive. And they’ve been removed, so we’re mourning.”

Chavez said she was frustrated by the move.

Activists said they would be outside of Tweed until 6 p.m. on Monday to support what they called a violation of human rights.

“It sounds like they’re in financial trouble,” Watkins said. “They’ve made a decision to sign a contact with DHS and ICE to engage in these ICE flights.”

Both Watkins and Chavez said the have flown out of Tweed before. They said they won’t again if it supports the removal of immigrants.

“Many of them will be removed to prisons in other countries without any sense of timeline, date, legal representation, or ability to fight their case in court,” Chavez said. “So, we’re mourning that and I hope we can stop mourning very soon.”