Eric Song, Contributing Photographer

Demonstrators assembled for the second time last Thursday outside Tweed Airport in response to Avelo’s move to operate deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security, calling on passengers to boycott Avelo until they stop operating these flights.

Carrying signs such as “Due Process Not Profits” and “Don’t Let Your Family Vacation Support Family Separation,” a crowd of about 200 protesters booed and chanted as Avelo airplanes flew overhead. Stationed on the corner of Burr and Dean streets, the gathering was three times larger than the previous protest and included U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73, State Rep. Juan Candelaria and three New Haven alders. 
“You made a bad mistake, you made a political mistake, you made a legal mistake, you made a financial mistake and, most importantly, you made a moral mistake,” Blumenthal said at the event, referring to Avelo. Blumenthal condemned the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in his speech, criticizing the lack of due process and the use of Salvadoran prisons to house deportees.

As Blumenthal spoke, several protesters in the crowd began shouting at the senator with megaphones. One protester blamed the senator and the political establishment for having brought Avelo to the Morris Cove neighborhood in the first place, shouting “all the Democrats brought them here!” Another protester shouted “fight Trump and the liberals!” A cry of “get him out” was heard from the crowd. 

Eric Goodman, a demonstrator who held up a newspaper with the headline “Trump can’t stop the decline of the American empire,” expressed his discontent with both major political parties, stating that “all they care about is power and their pocketbook.” He believes that “nothing will change” without the “mobilization of the working class.”

Tabitha Sookdeo, executive director of Connecticut Students for a Dream, called on the crowd to support House Bill 7212, which would strengthen protections in the Trust Act, a law that prohibits government entities from sharing information with DHS and could possibly impose penalties on Avelo for aiding federal immigration enforcement.
Speaking alongside Alders Sarah Miller and Ellen Cupo, Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith echoed a letter  from the Board of Alders criticizing Avelo and denounced the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador despite a judge order prohibiting removal. “These flights by this administration makes our dear city of New Haven less safe,” she declared.

Two protestors questioned Tanbee Smith about the war in Gaza during her speech, shouting “Where were you for Palestine? Free, free Palestine!” This was in reference to the Board of Alders’ decision to not adopt a ceasefire resolution last May.

In a message to protesters read by Tanbee Smith, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong admitted that local and state politicians had encouraged Avelo to bring service to New Haven through tax exemptions and airport expansion plans. But, if Avelo “endangers the lives of the innocent,” the state can reevaluate and revoke those benefits, Tong wrote. He called on the airline to do the “right thing” and to stop “hiding behind the DHS and legal jargon.”

New Haven’s Tweed airport accounts for more than 50 percent of Avelo’s business, according to an internal Avelo email obtained by the News. 

Cheers and chants of “ground the fleet” erupted following Tanbee Smith’s speech. The demonstrators later marched to the entrance of the airport, handing out pre-printed pro-boycott yard signs and boarding pass-style flyers to interested vehicles and pedestrians.

Several protesters entered the parking lot of the airport and began posting fliers on the windshields of cars in the lot. Police prevented additional protesters from stepping on airport grounds. The protestors remained in place for roughly 20 minutes, after which they marched back to the original site chanting “Fuck Avelo!”

The protesters dispersed as the sun set, leaving yard signs along the road that read “We won’t fly Avelo until they stop ICE flights!” in both English and Spanish.

As of Sunday, over 34,000 people have signed a petition supporting the boycott.