Action 159 NO ICE FLIGHTS from Maine!

Background:  There is nationwide disgust that some US airlines are under contract with ICE to deport people without due process.  One of those airlines, Avelo, operates out of Portland (It’s based in Houston, TX). Its deportation flights are thought to fly out of Mesa, Arizona (not Maine, at least not currently). The airline website does not show any direct flights to Mesa from Maine, and Mesa isn’t even on their flight map (ashamed?).  But Avelo flies from Portland to New Haven CT, where it has flights to ICE-friendly “red states” like Texas and Florida (1).  

The Portland Jetport, which is owned and managed by the City of Portland, has denied that it entered into a cooperation agreement with US-DOT in order to receive an $18 M DOT grant in January 2025.  But later, in April, apparently it got cooperation orders from the US DOT (2).  It’s not known how the jetport, or Avelo, intend to respond if asked to engage in unconstitutional deportations from Portland.  Even though it is not known to be deporting people from Maine currently, Avelo is known to be complicit in ICE’s unconstitutional deportations elsewhere (see for example 3), and it even receives subsidies from some “blue states”!(4).  

Action:

·      Take the “I Won’t Fly Avelo” pledge.

·      Call the Avelo leadership and tell them to drop the Deportation Contract with ICE. (5)

·      Ask the good folks at the Jetport what you can do to help them resist ICE, and let us know the response https://portlandjetport.org/contact-us

Urgency:  The links make this an easy action to do, when you have a minute. 

Extra Credit:
Read up on Action 105, sent May 3 and Action 123, sent May 23.  You can find them at https://isledems.org/actionitems.  Also, recall that two important pieces of Maine ICE-related legislation, LD 1259 (6) and LD 1971(7), were held over for the next legislative session starting in January.  Be prepared to present supporting testimony.  (LD 1656 which supported ICE, died!)

(1) https://www.aveloair.com/destinations
(2) https://simpleflying.com/portland-international-jetport-denies-claims-cooperating-ice-18-million-federal-grant/
(3) https://www.npr.org/2025/04/30/g-s1-63572/avelo-airlines-deportation-flights-backlash
(4) https://theintercept.com/2025/08/14/avelo-airlines-ice-flights-deportation-subsidies-protest/
(5) Of the14 pages of the online Avelo employee roster, there is just one Maine-based employee, a Captain.  https://www.signalhire.com/companies/avelo-airlines/employees?locations%5B%5D=us&page=7

(6) https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1259&snum=132

(7) https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum=132

Thanks to Emanuel Pariser for this action item!