A big thank you to everyone who supported the Boycott Avelo effort by protesting, wearing T-shirts, handing out leaflets, and displaying card magnets! That effort has paid off. The good news is that Avelo Airlines has announced its decision to end its participation in U.S. government-funded deportation flights. 

According to a press release from Stop Avelo, “Avelo Airlines’ reversal is a major victory for public accountability and collective action in the fight to protect immigrant rights and end the immoral profiteering from the deportation industry…. Since April 2025, when Avelo Airlines CEO Andrew Levy first announced that the airline would begin operating deportation flights for ICE, hundreds of state officials and tens of thousands of Americans across the country have voiced outrage over a commercial airline’s decision to profit from deportation operations.”

According to representatives of the Stop Avelo coalition, “Avelo Airlines didn’t wake up one morning and decide to pivot their business strategy. They were forced to retreat because tens of thousands of people made their participation in deportation flights a toxic asset.”

Spotify also confirmed, according to an article in Variety, that ICE recruitment ads are no longer running on their platform. They pointed to the end of the advertising campaign (paid for with our tax dollars), not to a corporate decision to disallow the content. 

Next Up: Hilton Hotels

You may have heard about the Hilton Hotel franchisee in Minnesota that refused to book ICE agents. Here’s how Fox described the situation. You can write to Hilton Hotels (customer.service@hilton.com) or call them at (800) 445 8667 (press 0 until you get a human) and tell them how you feel about their hospitality for ICE agents. 

You can also write to the hotel whose employees refused to book the (actually fake) ICE agent.  The hotel is the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota. Go to their Facebook page and signal your support (you’ll be in company with a number of ICE supporters expressing the opposite)! 

We Do What We Can

Along with voicing your support or objections, you can exercise your economic influence as you choose where to spend your money. In addition to avoiding Hilton properties, there are ongoing boycotts of Amazon, Target, and others. If you can’t boycott entirely, how much could you reduce or redirect?

The sustainability resource One5C addressed the perception that this kind of activism needs to be all or nothing in its newsletter this week. “It doesn’t matter that you do everything right; it matters that you try. It matters that you think and care about the ways even small behavioral shifts can make an impact.”

Indeed.

Photo by Reed Lee on Unsplash