Englewood, CO – On June 6, jetCenters of Colorado held a fundraiser at Centennial Airport, one of their three aviation operations along the Front Range. jetCenters, which provides aeronautical services such as fueling and aircraft rental and maintenance, holds a sublease with Key Lime Air, an airline that, according to government data and flight trackers, runs detainee flights for ICE.
The Aurora Unidos CSO (AUCSO), which helped organize the week of action, views the airline as “profiting off of human suffering.”
The jetCenters fundraiser had hundreds of attendees and even had the Denver Broncos mascot make an appearance. Other sponsors of the fundraiser included Modern Aviation, Boom Supersonic and Signature Aviation.
Organizers and activists from AUCSO, Bread and Roses Legal Center, Denver People’s March, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Immigrant Partnership Team (IPT), and Jewish Voice for Peace partnered together for a demonstration in resistance to the continued collaboration between jetCenters and Key Lime Air. The action comes as the conclusion to a week of action against deportation flights in Colorado. Protesters’ speeches condemned jetCenters, Key Lime Air and the deportation flights.
“Key Lime Air CEO Cliff Honeycutt has repeatedly ignored calls to even acknowledge his company’s profiting from human suffering, trying to hide behind a thin shield of respectability and trying to dismiss any outcry to his profiting off of cruelty as simply ‘politics,’” said Jordyn Merritt from IPT, “But it is not just a political statement to say that Key Lime Air makes money off of acts of cruelty; it is a fact, corroborated by human rights organizations and flight trackers across the nation.”
According to Katherine Draken of FRSO, who shared public data with the crowd, “Key Lime Air is confirmed under contract with CSI Aviation, one of the largest federal contractors for ICE flights. They have a $563 million contract with the Department of Homeland Security, and Key Lime Air is responsible for up to 11% of ICE’s deportation [flights].” Draken urged the audience to stand in solidarity with immigrants in the wake of the recent victory in Connecticut against Avelo Airlines’ $150 million contract with ICE.
Yoselin Corrales of AUCSO reminded the crowd of the inappropriate use of funds and how this movement is for all people, stating, “Our tax dollars could be funding education, housing, food accessibility, healthcare, and yet we are seeing it used to perpetuate the suffering of the community that we grew up in, were raised in, and are a part of. We see our family, our neighbors, and our friends being terrorized on a regular basis and we say no more!”
Two days after the protest, Denver City Council voted to pass an ordinance that could potentially be used to kick air carriers that operate deportation flights out of Denver International Airport. While AUCSO considers the ordinance to be a minor victory, they also say that the fight is far from over, and they urge the community to get involved in any way they can.
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