Lisa Stranger

2025-05-13 22:27:32

Budget airline begins deportation flights for ICE with start of Arizona operations

Avelo was launched in 2021 as COVID-19 still raged and billions of taxpayer dollars were propping up big airlines. It saves money mainly by flying older Boeing 737 jets that can be bought at relatively low prices. And it operates out of less-crowded and less-costly secondary airports, flying routes that are ignored by the big airlines. It said it had its first profitable quarter in late 2023.

Andrew Levy, Avelo's founder and chief executive, said in announcing the agreement last month that the airline's work for ICE would help the company expand and protect jobs.

“We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic," said Levy, an airline industry veteran with previous stints as a senior executive at United and Allegiant airlines.

Avelo did not grant an interview request from The Associated Press.

Financial and other details of the Avelo agreement — including destinations of the deportation flights — haven’t publicly surfaced. The AP asked Avelo and ICE for a copy of the agreement, but neither provided the document. The airline said it wasn’t authorized to release the contract.

“Having an entire flight of people handcuffed and shackled would hinder any evacuation and risk injury or death,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in a statement. “It also impedes our ability to respond to a medical emergency, fire on board, decompression, etc. We cannot do our jobs in these conditions.”

In New Haven, Connecticut, where Avelo flies out of Tweed New Haven Airport, Democratic Mayor Justin Elicker urged Avelo’s CEO to reconsider. “For a company that champions themselves as ‘New Haven’s hometown airline,’ this business decision is antithetical to New Haven’s values,” Elicker said in a statement.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2025/05/13/budget-airline-begins-deportation-flights-for-ice-with-start-of-arizona-operations/

Budget airline begins deportation flights for ICE with start of Arizona operations

A U.S. budget airline has begun making deportation flights out of an Arizona airport, an unusual and controversial move for a company that depends heavily on its consumer brand.

^{Jacques Billeaud (ClickOrlando | Orlando, Florida News, Local Headlines | WKMG News 6")}

Lisa Stranger

2025-05-13 22:10:34

so when the "two weeks" stall didn't work, they killed him off administratively in an effort to avoid paying

‘I’m still alive:’ Florida veteran mistakenly declared dead by VA fights for benefits

It was only after News4JAX reached out to the VA that Sample received a direct deposit for the thousands of dollars he was owed.

A spokesperson said: “VA resumed Mr. Sample’s benefits payments May 7, and we are issuing a retroactive payment to him as well. He should receive that in 7-10 days. We regret the error and apologize for the inconvenience.”

Sample, who says he was injured while serving when a Bradley vehicle hatch crushed his right hip, was approved for disability benefits in January. But more than five months later, he was still waiting to receive his payments. The only compensation he says he received from the VA was a $7 check — mailed months late — for a reason he still does not understand.

He said he contacted Congressman John Rutherford’s office, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, local Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), and VA hotlines, but said every inquiry was met with either silence or automated responses.

“Everybody says two weeks. It’s been five or six months,” he said.

Beyond the administrative nightmare, Sample said his healthcare has been minimal or denied outright.

“They told me I was refusing treatment because I wanted an alternative [prescription]. So they haven’t given me any prescriptions,” he said. “They’ve cut off my mental health care three times. Actually, they just cut it off last week as well.”

Sample described an initial wait of more than nine months to see a mental health professional, only to be told in sessions that certain topics were off-limits.

“Every session, I’d sit there and couldn’t talk about the things that were actually bothering me,” he said.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/florida/2025/05/13/im-still-alive-florida-veteran-mistakenly-declared-dead-by-va-fights-for-benefits/

‘I’m still alive:’ Florida veteran mistakenly declared dead by VA fights for benefits

An Army veteran in Florida is speaking out after being mistakenly declared dead by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

^{Tiffany Salameh (ClickOrlando | Orlando, Florida News, Local Headlines | WKMG News 6")}