Avelo Airlines signs long-term deal to run flights for ICE
MESA, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Avelo Airlines says it has signed a long-term deal flying for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency.
The Houston-based company is one of a small number of airlines cashing in on the multi-million dollar business of deportation flights.
"100 millions of dollars a year that they are probably paying for this. And it just seems like the public deserves a right to know," said Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate.
Deportation flights has now become a big money business.
"Right now, as best I can tell, DHS is spending about 30, you know, between $25 and $35 million a month," Cartwright explained.
Cartwright kept a watchful eye over the domestic and international movements of ICE Air, mostly consisting of chartered airplanes flying people with an order of removal back to the country they came from. The planes they fly in is not your Southwest or American Airlines.
"I think it's just not their business. I mean, they're they're in the business of retail consumers. They're not in the business of charters," Cartwright expressed.
That's where charter companies like Avelo and Global X come in. Cartwright says Global X does the vast majority of deportation flights, which he estimates 70 to 80% of them. They too operate out of Mesa Gateway Airport as well.
But with the announcement of Avelo placing a hub at the airport and operating three 737 aircraft out of it, Cartwright expects more undocumented immigrants to be moved out of Arizona either to other detention centers across the U.S., or back to their country.
"Central America, Northern Triangle countries, generally, Guatemala is the country with the largest deportations, followed by Honduras, then El Salvador," Cartwright added.
The deal with Avelo will also include the transport of people in ICE custody domestically, typically from the two dozen detention centers across the U.S.
