Thousands of people around the country have joined a boycott of a passenger airline profiting off President Donald Trump’s mass deportation machine.

Now, activists are calling on Democratic elected officials to put pressure on Avelo Airlines, the Houston-based low-cost carrier at the center of the controversy, by ending subsidies and airport leases until it cuts off U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They are making headway in places like New Haven, Connecticut, which has forbidden its employees from using city funds on Avelo. Elsewhere, however, activists have received the silent treatment from officials like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, whom they have asked to cancel Avelo’s contract to fly out of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Since mid-May when it began flying for ICE Air, Avelo operated 10 percent of the agency’s deportation flights, according to aviation researcher Tom Cartwright, and 20 percent of ICE flights overall. (Avelo did not respond to a request for comment.)

It’s an effort that draws direct inspiration from the Tesla Takedown movement, which belatedly received support from Democratic elected officials after weeks of grassroots anger. Ryan Harvey, an organizer based in Baltimore, say Avelo’s role in deportation flights gives Democratic leaders a chance to lead.

“There is such a deep need right now for anybody in power to stand up to Trump in a meaningful way and do something real, do something with a little bit of guts behind it,” said Harvey. “And this is an easy one, because they can just do it.”

ICE Air

Long before Trump began his second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement relied on contract carriers for deportation charter flights.

Until recently, those carriers did not offer regular passenger service. In April, however, Avelo announced that it was adding ICE flights to a roster that had previously consisted mostly of cheap flights between mid-sized cities and vacation destinations.

The move was born out of necessity, Avelo claimed. With its passenger business failing to turn a profit, it had to turn to ICE to stay afloat.

What happened next may have caught Avelo off-guard. While the airline........

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