National Coalition to Stop Avelo Claims Victory In Response to Avelo Airlines Decision to Stop Working with DHS

Grassroots pressure credited after months-long national campaign

Washington, D.C., January 7 — The national coalition, Stop Avelo, a grassroots-led national alliance of activists and concerned community members across the country, celebrated Avelo Airlines’ announcement that it plans to end its participation in US government–funded deportation flights. Avelo Airlines' reversal is a major victory for public accountability and collective action in the fight to protect immigrant rights and end the immoral profiteering from the deportation industry.

Avelo’s announcement follows a months-long national campaign demanding that Avelo conclude its commitment to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to fly deportation flights. Since April 2025, when Avelo Airlines CEO Andrew Levy first announced that the airline would begin operating deportation flights for ICE, hundreds of state officials and tens of thousands of Americans across the country have voiced outrage over a commercial airline’s decision to profit from deportation operations.

“Let’s be clear: Avelo Airlines didn’t wake up one morning and decide to pivot their business strategy. They were forced to retreat because tens of thousands of people made their participation in deportation flights a toxic asset." said Nikki Marín Baena, Co-founder and Co-Director at Siembra NC. “It’s despicable that any US corporation would seek to profit off our government's immoral actions. However, let this be a reminder that partnering with our government to forcibly separate families and-defy the rule of law will always be bad for business.”

Adam Shah, Director of National Policy for Jobs with Justice also added, “From Avelo to Amazon, all corporations must weigh their options. Democracy or authoritarianism. Community or violence. If you are profiting from a partnership with ICE—a lawless agency kidnapping our neighbors, bloodying our streets, and coercing entire workforces to do their bidding—then you are in opposition to democracy and will face an organized coalition of working people determined to win a future free from the exploitation of the deportation machine.

The coalition said the announcement underscores the power of speaking out—even in difficult and hostile political environments.

“This decision shows that collective action can make a difference,” Matthew Boulay, Oregon Stop Avelo coalition organizer. “At a time when immigrant communities are under relentless attack, today’s news offers proof that resistance works. From the tarmac to the ticket counter, our organizing created a sustained pressure campaign that Avelo could no longer ignore."

Ryan Harvey from the Maryland Avelo Out of BWI Coalition also stated, “This is the result of tens of thousands of people organizing in our state and nationwide to put pressure on Avelo, airports where they operate, and local governments that host their operations. It should be a message to other private airlines that cooperation with ICE will be met with mass boycotts and protests, and it will hurt your business. There is no excuse for human rights violations”.

At the same time, Stop Avelo organizers also emphasized that the airline must still be held accountable for its role in deportations carried out under the Trump Administration.

“No human being should be stripped of their right to due process, physically restrained and shackled against their will, and deported—sometimes to countries they are not even from—for simply trying to build a better life for themselves and their families,” Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Unitarian Universalist Association and Delaware Stop Avelo Coalition. “These tactics are illegal, immoral, and reckless.”

The coalition pledged to continue organizing to oppose deportation practices, defending the human and legal rights of immigrants, and working to urge state legislators to pass bills that limit the ability of companies that engage in deportations to do business.

“Our fight does not end here,” said Caritas Kerby from the Delaware Stop Avelo Coalition and Delaware Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “Other airlines - like Global X, Lime, Eastern, and Omni – also fly deportation flights for ICE. Protest groups vow to hold these and other actors accountable who profit from the cruel and illegal deportation industry. We will continue to challenge these injustices and demand accountability from corporations and government officials alike—from now through Election Day 2028 and beyond.”