100 signatures reached
To: Southwest Airlines
Demand Southwest Airlines Protect Its Passengers and Employees from ICE
ICE is ramping up immigration enforcement at airports all across the country—showing up at gates, on the jet bridge, and even trying to board flights to detain passengers. On July 25, a Southwest Airlines agent did the right thing, and prevented a federal ICE agent from boarding a flight without a judicial warrant signed by a judge.
But just one week earlier, Southwest employees stood by while Chantal Rojas was detained as she was boarding her flight in Denver. Southwest’s only statement was that “Southwest complies with applicable state and federal law.”
Southwest can’t have it both ways. Right now, it’s up to whichever gate agent or flight attendant happens to be working that day to decide, in the moment, whether to protect a passenger from ICE—and then wonder if it’ll cost them their job. Southwest must adopt a formal, company-wide policy on how it cooperates with ICE, prioritizing the safety of its employees and passengers. Specifically, we’re calling on Southwest to:
- Require a judicial warrant signed by a judge before any federal agent can access gates, jet bridges, or aircrafts.
- Publicly commit to not sharing any customer or employee data with ICE.
- Protect its employees who protect passengers, by ensuring that no employee will be disciplined for not complying with warrantless ICE raids.
Why is this important?
This isn’t an isolated incident. ICE has deployed agents to at least 25 airports nationwide, and arrests are climbing fast. Airports are quickly becoming a new front line, and airline employees are becoming the last line of defense for passengers being targeted.
The July 25 standoff in Dallas is one of at least six similar incidents involving Southwest employees in recent weeks, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. These workers are making split-second calls to protect their passengers, with no concrete company policy behind them and their own jobs and safety on the line.
And it’s not just Southwest workers sounding the alarm. The union representing flight attendants across at least 20 other airlines has already warned the industry in writing that ICE’s expanding presence at gates and on jet bridges raises serious safety and legal concerns—including reports of agents boarding planes to interrogate and harass passengers who aren’t even their targets.
When asked directly about its role in these detentions, Southwest's response wasn't reassurance. Instead the company pointed out that TSA and DHS already have access to passenger data through the standard federal screening process.
Sign the petition: Tell Southwest to stand up and protect its employees and passengers!