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Signature Aviation is a crucial partner for ICE as it flies immigrants into and out of Hanscom Field in Bedford, according to Gov. Maura Healey.
A charter plane lands at Hanscom Field in December 2025 to pick up ICE detainees near the Signature Aviation building. John Tlumacki/Boston Globe
Gov. Maura Healey is calling on a Florida-based aviation company that helps coordinate deportation flights out of Hanscom Field to sever its ties with ICE.
The governor sent a letter to Tony Lefebvre, CEO of Signature Aviation, on Friday outlining her concerns. According to Healey, Signature is a crucial partner for ICE as the agency implements President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. She railed against ICE in the letter, accusing the agency of violating due process, court orders, and constitutional rights.
Signature is the largest fixed base operator in the country, and the only one serving ICE at Hanscom. Fixed base operators are private companies that have been granted the right to provide aviation services, like fueling and parking, at airports.
“You are the charter companies’ point of contact, you ensure that the planes are fueled up, your personnel open the gates to allow ICE’s vehicles into the airport, and you escort ICE’s vehicles with detainees to the tarmac and into the deportation planes,” Healey wrote. “It is not hyperbole to say that if Signature Aviation stopped supporting ICE’s flights, ICE would be unable to operate out of Hanscom Field.”
Signature did not return a request for comment Monday.
Hancom, in Bedford, is routinely used by ICE to facilitate deportations. A total of 132 ICE flights departed from Hanscom during the first year of Trump’s second term. Thirteen departed during January 2026. There were 129 ICE flights that flew into Hanscom during the first year of the Trump term, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Human Rights First, which tracks ICE flights around the world.
In December, Healey sent a letter to federal officials, demanding that they stop using Hanscom for immigration enforcement flights. Local officials have been kept in the dark by ICE, even as immigration enforcement flights into and out of Hanscom dramatically increased under the current Trump administration. Healey directly appealed to two private airline companies in January, urging them to stop assisting ICE at Hanscom.
Healey, who is running for reelection, has amped up her vocal criticism of the Trump administration and ICE in recent months. Last week, for example, she demanded information from federal officials about every person detained by ICE since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Healey’s office pointed to comments made by ICE officials showing that a majority of people detained by ICE in Massachusetts since Trump took office have no criminal convictions or charges. These “beloved” community members have been “indiscriminately targeted,” she said.
Private flights like the ones facilitated by Signature have allowed ICE to “supercharge” deportation efforts, Healey wrote. She called attention to the massive influx of money the Trump administration has poured into ICE.
“As an American taxpayer, I also find it beyond comprehension that ICE’s budget to execute this harmful agenda is more than the budget for all state and local law enforcement — combined,” she wrote.
The governor pointed to language on Signature’s website that says the company is “always thinking” about its place in the world and the communities it serves.
“You have a choice to either continue profiting from ICE’s unlawful tactics that are depriving people of due process and separating parents from their children, or you can stand with the people and communities you say that you serve,” Healey wrote.
Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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