With the Trump administration continuing its deportation campaign, several airlines are helping with efforts to take undocumented migrants out of the country.
Houston-based budget carrier Avelo Airlines has faced months of protests over its continued insistence on using its Boeing 737-800s (BA)  planes to deport migrants out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA), while airline leasing companies like CSI Aviation and Global Crossing Airlines have also secured government contracts for deportation flights.
Known by its shortened form GlobalX, the latter airline was recently targeted by hacker group Anonymous, which over the night of May 4, took over the front page of the airline’s website with a message informing readers of the deportation flights.
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‘Your sycophant staff ignore lawful orders’: Hacktivist group takes over airline’s website
“Anonymous has decided to enforce the Judge’s order since you and your sycophant staff ignore lawful orders that go against your fascist plans,” the group published on GlobalX’s front page in reference to U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruling that Trump could not use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants to Venezuela.
The story was first broken by independent news outlet 404 Media, whom the hacker group contacted with news that it successfully overtook the GlobalX website while also obtaining sensitive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data about passenger names and flight records between January 19 and May 1.
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GlobalX has not been responding to requests for comment on the hacking attempt, but the airline’s front page was returned to its normal state by May 5.
“The data, which the hackers contacted 404 Media and other journalists about unprompted, could provide granular insight into who exactly has been deported on GlobalX flights, when, and to where, with GlobalX being the charter company that facilitated the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador,” 404 Media writes in its report.
Image source: GlobalX Air
Airlines facilitating White House deportation flights face increased scrutiny, protests
The deportation of migrants to El Salvador is currently being challenged in multiple courts, with two judges having ordered the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and a second migrant from Venezuela to the U.S.Â
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The hacking attack raised both cybersecurity concerns and the potential for future lawsuits, given that it accessed deportee names that both the White House and the GlobalX have tried to keep hidden.
It also draws attention to the company — while Avelo Airlines has brand recognition among the wider public as a low-cost company, GlobalX had previously not been well-known, as it does not run commercial flights.
Avelo has faced protests in states such as Oregon, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, California, Delaware and Florida, while chief executive Andrew Levy has insisted that running deportation flights for the federal government gives it “the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 crew members employed for years to come.”
The carrier also held contracts for ICE under the Biden administration that went largely unnoticed at the time. Protesters, however, pointed out that while previous deportations were carried out based on orders from a judge, the Trump administration has used questionable legal loopholes, and in several cases outright disregarded judicial rulings, to continue deportations.
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