Denver, CO – For the past month, organizers in Denver have been fighting a local airline on the issue of deportation flights.
On December 3, organizers from Aurora Unidos CSO, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Casa de Paz, and Immigrant Partnership Teams came together for an exploratory meeting with CEO of Centennial Airport, Mike Fronapfel, as well as Arapahoe County Commissioner and Vice President of the Airport Authority Board Jessica Campbell. The purpose of the meeting was to gather information about the nature of Centennial Airport’s relationship with Key Lime Air, share about the harmful, wide-ranging effects of deportation flights, and ask what steps can be taken to remove this company from the airport.
Key Lime Air, and subsidiary Denver Air Connection, are headquartered at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado, off a major thoroughfare between East Aurora and South Denver, and, notably, within Jessica Campbell’s district.
In September and October alone, Key Lime Air operated over 275 transfer and deportation flights, which likely continued to increase in scale in November and December with funding from a $563 million contract through CSI Aviation from the Department of Homeland Security. In the meeting, it was stated that Key Lime Air is a sub-tenant of jetCenters of Colorado, a ground contractor based at the airport, and so the board “cannot just kick them out.” However, while Campbell and Fronapfel focused on the airport board’s limitations, organizers focused on finding solutions.
On the following Thursday afternoon, December 9, as planes took off and landed nearby, community organizers hosted a protest against Key Lime Air outside of the Centennial Airport. Members of Aurora Unidos CSO and Immigrant Partnership Teams encouraged Arapahoe and Douglas County residents to join them at the Airport Authority Board of Commissioners meeting to let their representatives know how the community feels about Key Lime Air’s collaboration with ICE.
“We know that this cannot be allowed to continue – not in our state, not in our home, and not while we have anything to say about it,” declared Jordyn Merritt with Immigrant Partnership Teams.
In addition to urging others to attend public comment, organizers joined together to demand an end to deportation flights, discuss the real world implications of immigrants unknowingly being torn away from community support, and to demand the return of detainee William Javier.
William Javier, a 76-year-old with dementia, was taken by ICE in August after showing up at the Centennial ICE Office under the guise of a “check-in.” He willingly showed up and went in because he believed they could help with his case, but, instead, he was immediately detained and transferred to the local for-profit prison, the GEO Detention Center in Aurora. Organizations in the community fundraised over $7000 to assist with fees for legal representation, but, as his health continued to decline in the detention center, he was moved to the medical ward, where he was then limited from outside access.
On December 9, after losing contact with him for weeks, members of Aurora Unidos CSO were informed that Javier was unknowingly transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. Just this week, the ACLU of Texas published a damning testimony of human rights violations occurring at the facility, including medical neglect and malnutrition. Organizers are now determining next steps to get Javier back home. Despite the ruin that ICE is causing to people like Javier, Key Lime Air is happy to rake in profits from helping facilitate this harm and abuse through deportations and family separation.
After submitting public comment, organizers celebrated coming together to stand up against Key Lime Air and strategized over their next steps. On Monday, December 15, the Denver City Council will be voting on whether to expand Key Lime Air’s operational space at Denver International Airport.
“We will continue to put pressure on those who not only allow this to happen, but deny their involvement. We will continue to resist, disrupt, and expose any expansion,” said Faith Arteaga with Aurora Unidos CSO, “From DC, to Denver, to LA, immigrants are here to stay!”
#DenverCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #AUCSO
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