If you are despairing over the lawlessness and violence of the Trump administration, here is some news to make you feel better about the power of the people.
On Wednesday, after months of public protests and outcry, Avelo Airlines announced it will stop providing deportation flights for ICE.
Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff told The Washington Post the ICE flights “provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs.”
Translation: the money was not worth the headache and the hit to Avelo’s reputation. Goff also told The Post that protests and “’widespread misinformation’ about the airline did not affect the carrier’s popularity or passenger loads.” That’s a far cry from saying that protests had nothing to do with the decision.
Since announcing its DHS contract for deportation flights in April, the carrier “faced protests, boycotts and backlash from travelers, flight attendant unions, local politicians and immigration activists,” The Post noted.
The MAGA-toady Post also quoted Andrew Willis Garcés, senior strategist for the grassroots advocacy organization Siembra NC, saying that “thousands” have protested Avelo at “all of their bases all over the country.” The protestors also successfully pressured local legislators to push back against Avelo. The mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, where Avelo’s largest hub is based, “barred city employees from using taxpayer dollars to book flights on the airline,” for example.
The Avelo news broke on Wednesday, the same day that Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE. There is no indication that Good’s death, which shocked people of conscience unwilling to be gaslighted by the Trump administration, influenced the airlines’ change of heart. But there is no doubt that the airlines would have been in for more and bigger headaches had it stayed the course.
Prolonged, peaceful, non-violent protest works, y’all.