Why Should Delaware Care?
The involvement of Avelo Airlines, the only commercial air provider for Delaware, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become a target of criticism in recent months. A new bill would seek to cut any public support from an airline in such a position.
Delaware lawmakers will introduce legislation this week to strip financial incentives from Avelo Airlines unless they stop conducting deportation flights amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up removal tactics.
State Sen. Ray Seigfried (D-North Brandywine) and Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) will file a bill Thursday that would also bar the Delaware Department of Transportation from working with airlines that deport people without a valid judicial warrant or demonstration of due process. That would essentially prevent the use of state-owned resources like Wilmington Airport for such uses, but wouldn’t end Avelo’s service in Delaware.
While applicable generally, the legislation is geared specifically toward Avelo Airlines, a low-cost airline and Delaware’s only commercial air operator, that entered into a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April to deport people as part of a new initiative dubbed, “ICE Air.”
Avelo doesn’t operate deportation flights out of Delaware; it only flies commercial routes from the Wilmington Airport. But the airline does fly deportation flights elsewhere in the country, including in Arizona.
Senate Bill 207 would amend two sections of the Delaware Code to allow for the enforcement of these accountability standards regarding deportations at state airport facilities by the Delaware Department of Justice. Any commercial airlines taking part in deportations would also be disqualified from receiving an aviation jet fuel tax exemption under the bill.
In December 2022, the state of Delaware exempted Avelo from having to pay jet fuel taxes for three years, a tax break that portioned out to about $43,000 each year. The tax exemption is slated to expire this month.
“That’s distressing to think that a company that is knowingly agreeing to [deport people] would get a break for their jet fuel,” Gorman told Spotlight Delaware.
Avelo leadership has repeatedly defended the decision to work with ICE as a financial move to keep the startup airline afloat.
The decision drew immediate and widespread backlash from legislative leaders and Delaware residents as the Trump administration intensified its deportation tactics nationwide. As part of its immigration agenda, the administration has sent people to detention facilities in Guantánamo Bay, high-security prisons in El Salvador and deported immigrants to countries of which they are not from.
Avelo Airlines, which has been known to fly deportees to Mexico, did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment on the proposed legislation Wednesday.
Lawmakers also intend to file Senate Concurrent Resolution 123 to discourage the Delaware River & Bay Authority – which manages the Wilmington Airport – from working with any businesses, like Avelo, that have contracts with ICE to deport people who have not been afforded due process.
The Delaware River & Bay Authority, a bi-state agency supported by Delaware and New Jersey that manages the airport, supports Avelo’s Delaware operations through a $500,000 annual marketing campaign using public dollars. Spotlight Delaware first disclosed that relationship in a story last month.
The DRBA previously said the contract is not about politics, but about boosting travel to the Wilmington Airport, which has struggled to retain regular commercial flights for decades. The regional agency also maintains that it uses “user fees” from bridge toll and ferry ticket collections – not direct tax dollars – to fund operations.
“While the DRBA understands and acknowledges community concerns regarding Avelo’s activities at other airports, those activities are outside the scope of the DRBA’s authority,” Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesperson James Salmon said in a statement.
Before Trump took office in 2025, ICE used contract carriers for deportation charter flights. In the spring, ICE contracted small commercial airlines to help carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
In November, Avelo operated about 17% of ICE Air charter flights, which include deportation, deportation-related and domestic transfer ICE flights in the U.S., according to Human Rights First’s November ICE Flight Monitor report. The flight monitor uses publicly available aviation data to monitor and document flights conducted by ICE.
Avelo conducted 20% or more of the ICE Air flights each month from July to October, according to the report.
The legislation will be considered during the 2026 Delaware legislative session that begins on Tuesday, Jan. 13.