Copyright MassLive
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — A coalition of resistance groups from Massachusetts and Connecticut on Saturday celebrated the upcoming departure of Avelo Airlines from Bradley International Airport. The group is opposed to the airline’s contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport immigrants. “These are people who are shackled, many of them have not gone before a judge, their families don’t know where they are. They’ve essentially been kidnapped and relocated in a very illegal way,” said John Majercak, of Indivisible Northampton Swing Left Western Massachusetts. “We think that any company that’s helping (ICE) shouldn’t get anyone’s business. So we’re spreading the word, letting people know not to fly them,” he added. Posting huge banners over the Route 75 overpass just outside the airport, activists from the local Connecticut and Massachusetts chapters of Indivisible and the Democratic Socialists of America CT Chapter celebrated what they called a victory in a pressure campaign against the airline. Majercak said ICE’s treatment of immigrants in this country have been appalling. “People are just horrified at what they’ve been seeing,” he said. He added that Saturday’s activists were split into two groups, with the other half protesting at Bradley Airport. The budget airline, which offered the state’s only nonstop service to Montego Bay, Jamaica, faced significant public backlash and protests from activists, politicians and the public for entering into a multi-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate deportation flights, which began in mid-May. Avelo defended the deal, worth an estimated $150 million, citing that it provides financial stability and helps protect jobs amid a volatile market for budget airlines, according to the Associated Press. Protest organizers said that since April, thousands of activists in the Stop Avelo coalition all across the country have called for boycotts, resulting in tens of thousands of Americans signing pledges to never fly the airline as long as it’s flying deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About a dozen people showed up Saturday for what organizers called the party on the overpass. Music from members of The Expandable Brass Band of Northampton and Hartford Hot Several Brass Band entertained the crowd, with many passing drivers honking their horns in apparent solidarity. The Connecticut Airport Authority announced on Oct. 13 that Avelo Airlines would suspend its services to Bradley International Airport. Avelo Airlines’ last scheduled flight from Bradley International Airport will be on Jan. 25.
