Community members urge Key Lime Air to reconsider ICE partnership

Dear Editor,

We want to inform your readers, and our neighbors, of a troubling development affecting our region. Key Lime Air, the parent company of Denver Air Connection, which serves the McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport, has secured a $1.5 billion federal contract with ICE. Through this agreement, the company is supplying aircraft that support the detention, transport, and, in many cases, eventual deportation of migrant members of our broader community. As residents of McCook and customers of Denver Air Connection, we find this cooperation with ICE both outrageous and deeply concerning, not to mention a gross misuse of our hard-earned taxpaying dollars.

Many Americans have watched with shock the news videos demonstrating ICE agents’ abusive behavior during detention raids. People are thrown to the ground and beaten, neither warrants nor personal identification are provided, detainees (including children) are handcuffed, and the majority of ICE claims professing past immigrant criminal activity turn out to be false.

That the United States needs to address its immigration policies is not in question. The real question is how we choose to do so, and whether our methods reflect our constitutional values and our shared humanity.

We call on Key Lime Air and Denver Air Connection to reconsider its decision to cooperate with ICE. You can choose to support our rural communities through safe, reasonable air transportation, or contribute to tearing those communities apart.

The Blanket Purchase Agreement referenced in the letter can be found at: usaspending.gov

Sincerely,

Karen Waddell

Gary Power

Bruce McDowell