Three major airlines have told the Trump administration not to use their planes to separate migrant families
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."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.
-
Quiz of The Week: 18 – 24 OctoberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Grace Wales Bonner change Hermès for the better?Podcast Plus will nuclear fusion deliver us from climate change? Is humour the best way to take on Trump?
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A fluffy hug, a toppled tower, and more
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
