NATIONWIDE — April Verrett, president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), today called on four major charter airlines to end their contracts with ICE and stop profiting from the Trump administration’s cruel and inhumane immigration policies. In letters sent to the CEOs of Avelo Airlines, Global X, Eastern Airlines, and Omni Air International, Verrett denounced the companies’ role in separating immigrant families and demanded the airlines they run immediately sever contracts with ICE Air, the agency’s air transportation arm.

Across the country, families and communities are being torn apart as ICE conducts raids that target people based on their skin color, language, workplace or neighborhood. Masked agents have detained and deported thousands, often without due process. Most of these deportation flights are operated by the four charter airlines.

In the letter to the airline CEOs, Verrett writes, “Terrorizing essential workers, families and entire communities is antithetical to responsible business practices, and it is also bad for business and the U.S. economy. Whether from a moral, legal, or economic standpoint, the bottom line is: it’s time for businesses to sever contracts with ICE Air.”

The letter is part of SEIU’s “De-ICE These Flights” campaign to protect immigrant workers and defend the constitutional rights of all working people. Nearly 10,000 SEIU members and allies have already signed the campaign’s online petition demanding the four charter airlines end contracts for ICE deportation flights.

SEIU’s campaign aims to educate institutional investors holding a stake in these companies or their parent companies on the inherent financial risks of enabling deportations, which destabilize the U.S. economy by attacking an essential immigrant workforce. SEIU members and millions of working people are participants in retirement security plans that may be exposed to the risks to the economy posed by these practices.

Avelo Airlines, Global X, Eastern Airlines, and Omni Air International and other private corporations are making millions in profits from government contracts that enable Trump’s deportation economy. On ICE deportation flights, immigrants are often shackled and subjected to abuse, including being denied access to air conditioning, toilets and the ability to protect themselves during an emergency if restrained.

SEIU represents 2 million service and care workers across the economy, including at colleges and universities, airports, hospitals, and federal, state, and local government agencies. The “De-ICE These Flights” campaign builds off SEIU’s Solidarity Summer organizing earlier this year, which culminated in a Justice Journey in Louisiana that mobilized tens of thousands of workers, allies, and communities to defend immigrant communities and ensure all workers are treated with dignity and respect.

• Full text of the letter is available here.

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