Lanie Olmo for Dallas Observer
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Dallas-area activists say their pressure campaign targeting private aviation companies that work with ICE is producing results after DHS-chartered flights switched to a new operator at Love Field.
In early June, the Observer reported on a group of activists, led by El Movimiento DFW and the Democratic Socialists of America, monitoring ICE activity at Love Field. They document their findings on social media through videos and flight records. Since March, they have tracked and observed detainee and deportation flights out of one of the airport’s commercial hangars operated by Atlantic Aviation, a fixed-base operator (FBO) headquartered in Plano.
Protests have taken place outside of both Love Field and Atlantic’s Plano office. A flight scheduled to dock at Atlantic’s Love Field hangar was canceled on June 27, the same day activists held a protest at Love Field. Separate, coordinated demonstrations also took place outside Atlantic facilities in Nevada and Florida that same day. No additional flights were observed until June 30, when flight systems showed an El Paso-bound plane operated by known DHS carriers using the hangar of another FBO, Signature Aviation. All subsequent flights have been serviced by Signature, organizers said.
“It’s very coincidental that after we protested you guys three times, ICE moved to Signature,” John Putnam, an organizer with El Movimiento, said. “That’s a good feeling because it says this was right to go after to target the money.”
Neither Atlantic nor Signature Aviation returned requests for comment. The organizers say they want a public apology from Atlantic, and a complete end to ICE operations out of Love Field.
At the national level
As immigration enforcement has ramped up under Donald Trump’s second term, so has a sprawling transportation apparatus operated by ICE Air Operations. Through April 2026, Human Rights First reported 7,110 ICE-chartered flights in the U.S., a 350% increase from the first year of the Biden Administration.
While a minority are deportation flights destined for international airports, a large number are known as “shuffle flights” between ICE hubs in the U.S. Advocates have warned that the transfers have been used to punish detainees or move them to states where they may not be guaranteed a timely legal process. Texas has one of the longest backlogs of immigration cases in the U.S. Of the 7,110 flights tracked by Human Rights First, 4,980 were logged as shuffle flights.
FBOs such as Atlantic and Signature Aviation typically do not have direct contracts with DHS; instead, they provide hangar space and refueling services to ICE-affiliated airliners, namely Air Wisconsin and Eastern Airlines. Putnam noted that Atlantic is still servicing ICE flights at other airports, while Signature Aviation was publicly criticized this March by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey in an open letter.
“You are the charter companies’ point of contact, you ensure that the planes are fueled up, your personnel open the gates to allow ICE’s vehicles into the airport, and you escort ICE’s vehicles with detainees to the tarmac and into the deportation planes,” the letter reads. “It is not Hyperbole to say if Signature Aviation stopped supporting ICE’s flights, ICE would not be able to operate out of Hanscom Field.”
At Love Field
Putnam and his fellow organizer, Lanie Olmo, said their organizations noted a considerable decrease in ICE flights at Love Field in June — 21 flights compared to 29 in May. Both also said no flights were tracked leaving the country. They did, however, record video on July 4 of what appear to be agents posing for pictures toward the back of an Eastern Airlines plane bound for Harlingen, a major ICE detention and deportation center.
On Saturday, the group organized another protest as an Eastern Airlines flight docked at the Signature Aviation hangar. Putnam said he and other organizers have tried to keep messaging at events positive due to concerns of antagonizing ICE amid reports of retaliation against detainees. In June, Democratic U.S. Reps. Pete Aguilar, Judy Chu and Jimmy Gomez called for an investigation into allegations of mistreatment at a detention center in California after detainees went on hunger strike.
“We’re not going to let them stop us from documenting and exposing because that’s what they want,” Putnam said. “They want to stop us, but we also have to be careful not to make it worse for people inside.”
The organizers said the schedule of ICE flights out of Signature’s hangar remains unchanged from when Atlantic Aviation serviced the planes. Planes arrive at the hangar at least five days a week, with organizers observing both men and women being loaded off transport buses. They have also photographed what appear to be agents posing for photos with the planes in the background, and a bus driver giving protestors a peace sign as they leave.
Olmo said she feels their activism played a part in the switch to Signature Aviation’s facility. She added that, despite the switch, their focus remains on the $10 billion Plano-based company and called Atlantic Aviation “cowards.”
“It’s not saying that Signature is by any means brave, but it’s clear they’re just in it for the money and the image,” she said. “And so the second that they got even a little bit of pushback, they folded.”
The organizers noted that fellow activists are still reporting ICE activity at Atlantic Aviation’s Las Vegas facility and other U.S. airports.
“The minimum Atlantic could do would be to, obviously, stop, but also make a statement that they’re stopping and apologize, or come clean. I doubt they would apologize, but they should make a public statement,” Olmo said. “I feel like that is the bare minimum.”
Could they stop?
While representatives for Atlantic Aviation did not return a request for comment on this story, when contacted in June, they pointed the Observer to a statement from the city of Dallas and Love Field.
“Fixed-base operators, such as Atlantic Aviation, are private businesses that provide services to authorized aircraft operators in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations,” the statement reads. “Immigration enforcement activities and the transportation of individuals in federal custody are matters under the jurisdiction of federal agencies and are occurring at major airports across the country. Like these other airports, Dallas Love Field does not manage or oversee federal immigration enforcement operations, nor does the airport have authority over federal decisions regarding the movement of individuals in federal custody.”
Greg Reigel, a local aviation attorney with FBO experience, said the companies may have limited options given FAA regulations and anti-discrimination statutes, which he added would apply equally to a government agency.
“The non-discrimination applies to airport users,” Reigel said. “It’s not categorized by those various types of classes you’d otherwise see with statutes or regulations talking about discrimination against those types of classes. The equal treatment applies to airport users.”
The statutes stem from federal funding the airport receives, with Reigel noting that the primary responsibility lands on the city, which then passes non-discrimination requirements on to its leasees and FBOs.
Olmo and Putnam said they plan to scale their organizing and coordinate with other activists around the country to increase pressure on the companies. Olmo also said she was not convinced the companies are powerless to stop servicing the flights and questioned how that could be the case in light of the recent pause at Atlantic’s Love Field hangar.
“If they have to service them, then why did Atlantic just stop at Love Field?” Olmo asked.
