American Airlines, United Airlines, and Frontier Airlines on Wednesday all asked the federal government not to use their aircrafts to transfer migrant children who have been separated from their families at the border.
United said it wants "no part" of the Trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policies, reports The Hill. "Based on our serious concerns about this policy and how it's in deep conflict with our company's values, we have contacted federal officials to inform them that they should not transport immigrant children on United aircraft who have been separated from their parents," said United CEO Oscar Munoz.
American issued a statement explaining that the airline had requested that the government "refrain" from using their services. "We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it," the company wrote. In a tweet, Frontier said it would "not knowingly allow our flights to be used to transport migrant children away from their families."
All three airlines said they weren't completely sure whether or not the government had used their planes to transport migrant children to shelters or foster families, but emphasized that they wanted their stance to be clear regardless. The Department of Homeland Security responded by calling the requests "unfortunate," lamenting the fact that the airlines didn't want to "partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public."