Governor Healey Calls on Signature Aviation to Stop Supporting ICE Deportation Flights out of Hanscom Field Airport

Governor Healey Calls on Signature Aviation to Stop Supporting ICE Deportation Flights out of Hanscom Field Airport 

 

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey is demanding that Signature Aviation end its role in facilitating deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of Hanscom Field airport.  

 

In a letter to CEO Tony Lefebvre, Governor Healey urged Signature Aviation to immediately sever ties with ICE and stop providing services that support deportation flights out of Hanscom, including coordinating with charter operators, fueling aircraft, and facilitating access to the airfield and tarmac. 

 

“You have a choice to either continue profiting from ICE’s unlawful tactics that are depriving people of due process and separating parents from their children, or you can stand with the people and communities you say that you serve,” wrote Governor Maura Healey. “I urge Signature and its owners to stand with our people and communities and cease supporting ICE’s damaging deportation efforts immediately. Enough is enough.” 

 

Signature Aviation is the sole fixed base operator (FBO) facilitating ICE charter flights at Hanscom Field and plays an indispensable role in enabling these deportation operations. Signature Aviation provides the access and logistical support that make these flights possible, including coordinating aircraft services, fueling, and securing access to the airfield. ICE’s reliance on private charter flights allows the agency to rapidly remove individuals from their families, communities, and legal counsel, undermining due process protections. Without Signature’s participation, ICE would be unable to operate private deportation flights from Hanscom Field. 

 

ICE’s enforcement tactics in Massachusetts and across the country have created widespread fear in communities and raised serious concerns about due process and constitutional protections. ICE’s own public statements show that the majority of people detained in Massachusetts over the past year had no criminal backgrounds, underscoring concerns about indiscriminate enforcement practices. 

 

This letter marks the second action Governor Healey has taken in the past week to hold ICE accountable on behalf of the people of Massachusetts. Last week, Governor Healey sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons demanding full transparency about ICE arrests and detention practices in Massachusetts, including information on who is being detained, the legal basis for those arrests, and where individuals are being held. The letter cites ICE’s own public data showing that a significant share of people arrested in Massachusetts have no criminal history and raised concerns about families being separated without due process. 

 

Governor Healey has also taken additional steps regarding ICE’s use of Hanscom Field for deportation flights. She has called on ICE to cease deportation flights out of Hanscom and urged private airlines and aviation companies to stop providing charter flights that facilitate these removals. In addition, the Governor has filed legislation to prohibit ICE operations in sensitive locations such as courthouses, schools, child care programs, hospitals, and places of worship, and signed an executive order requiring judicial warrants for entry into non-public areas of state facilities, limiting the use of state resources for civil immigration enforcement, and restricting participation in federal 287(g) agreements absent a clear public safety need. 

 

The full letter can be read here.