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Nearly 100 people gathered Saturday in downtown Eugene to protest Avelo Airlines, which has contracted to operate deportation flights for the federal government, known as ICE Air. Protesters are calling for the airline to be banned from the Eugene Airport, an action city leaders say is beyond their authority.
Jen Youngsun Ryu was 6 years old when she flew from Seoul to Los Angeles, the beginning of her journey as a Korean immigrant to the United States.
“That flight was so scary, and it was so exciting. It was the beginning of a brand new life for us that would offer every member of my family education and fulfilling careers,” said Ryu, minister of Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene.
Saturday, Ryu stood on the steps outside the Eugene Federal Building—much like the facility in Ohio where she became a naturalized citizen decades ago. She spoke to a crowd of nearly 100 people protesting the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and rallying against Avelo Airlines.
In April, the budget airline signed an agreement to operate deportation flights for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) agency. Avelo Airlines operates flights across the country, including a route between Eugene and California.
The airline does not operate deportation flights out of Eugene.
Protesters made clear through their signs that they don’t want Eugene to have anything to do with Avelo. They’re calling on city leaders and the Eugene Airport to cut business ties unless the airline ends its work with ICE.
“We don’t have the ability to ban an airline, any airline for any reason,” Andrew Martz, assistant airport director, Lookout Eugene — Springfield in a short interview, where he referenced a statement.
According to that statement from the airport, federal law prohibits publicly funded commercial airports from restricting airlines from flying in and out of their facility, as regulated by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.
But protesters aren’t backing down. They plan to rally again at the June 9 City Council meeting and the June 18 airport advisory committee meeting. They’re also urging travelers to boycott Avelo.
“We need to hold Avelo accountable,” said Kriscia Rivas, an organizer with Lane County Immigrant Defense Network.
Avelo Airlines is in a small network of charter companies known as ICE Air. In an investigation by ProPublica, flight attendants who worked ICE Air shared their ethical concerns about an inability to treat passengers humanely. They reported that passengers were kept shackled for entire flights, raising concerns about what could happen in an emergency. They also recalled cases where people were too ill to travel, including a sick child who collapsed mid-flight.
These reports worry Rivas, who says one of her family members—now pregnant and caring for a toddler—legally migrated to the U.S. a few years ago.
“She lives in suffocating fear that one day she will go to work and not come home,” Rivas said. “People should at least have the chance to plead their case. Be treated fairly. To have a case in court.”
Recently, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end protection for nearly 500,000 migrants, exposing them to deportation.
While administration officials claim to prioritize deporting criminals, NBC News reports that nearly half of those deported in February had no criminal record, and more than half of those currently in ICE custody face no charges or convictions. Officials do not regularly publish detention and deportation data.
For Ryu, whose church has a refugee sanctuary committee, she believes everyone deserves fairness—the kind that comes from being treated with dignity, respect, and a just process. Without that, she says, cruelty follows.
Reading news of people deported on the same kind of plane that once brought her to the U.S. has strengthened Ryu’s commitment to stand in solidarity with her immigrant neighbors, including those who gathered at Saturday’s protest.
“Lately, I have been wondering if there’s anything left to the American dream,” said Ryu.
“Some days I feel very disparaging about it, and then other days I come out to gatherings like this,” she said, reflecting on where she finds hope. “Eugene is a community that strives to welcome everybody.”
