{"id":210766,"date":"2025-09-08T17:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210766\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:48:15","slug":"bill-gates-has-a-link-to-trumps-ice-deportation-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210766\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates Has A Link To Trump’s ICE Deportation Flights"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s mass deportation agenda has a surprising stakeholder: Bill Gates. <\/p>\n

The multibillionaire tech mogul and philanthropist owns a large portion of a key service provider for immigration flights. <\/p>\n

And now, with new funding from Congress and an aggressive push from the White House, more <\/a>and more<\/a> immigration flights are taking off, transporting immigration detainees both within the United States and to their home countries \u2014 or, in some cases, to places they\u2019ve never been before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gates\u2019 connection to the U.S. detention and deportation machine is a company called Signature Aviation. Signature calls<\/a> itself<\/a> \u201cthe world\u2019s largest network of private aviation terminals,\u201d and it\u2019s a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement apparatus. <\/p>\n

\n

For two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission<\/a> to keep us around for the next 20 \u2014 we can\u2019t do this without you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Private charter<\/a> carriers<\/a> subcontracted for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transport immigration detainees \u2014 part of a network known as \u201cICE Air,\u201d a reference to the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s ICE Air Operations \u2014 use Signature\u2019s services daily. As a fixed-base operator, or FBO, Signature supplies ground crews, aviation fuel, boarding stairs, and airplane hangar space at hundreds of airports around the world, mostly in the United States. <\/p>\n

The private firm that holds Gates\u2019 and the Gates Foundation Trust\u2019s assets, Cascade Investment, increased its stake in the company to 30% in 2021, when it and two partners bought Signature outright for $4.7 billion. Human rights advocates \u2014 plane trackers and activists who keep tabs on deportation flights<\/a>, as well as the aviation and logistics companies profiting from them \u2014 say Gates\u2019 stake in Signature is at odds with his humanitarian work, including the Gates Foundation\u2019s support<\/a> of a plethora of immigration-focused nonprofits. Without FBOs like Signature, they say, Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda would be stuck on the ground.<\/p>\n

Gates himself has not publicly commented on Signature Aviation\u2019s crucial role in servicing ICE Air flights. Neither the Gates Foundation nor Cascade Asset Management Company, which oversees Cascade Investment, responded to multiple requests for comment. <\/p>\n

At one airport, Signature appears to have worked to make its branding less visibly associated with immigration flights. Last month, a set of Signature boarding stairs in Seattle \u2014 where the county government set up cameras in 2023 to keep an eye on immigration flights \u2014 got a new accessory<\/a>: two sheets of cardboard, taped over the company\u2019s logos. <\/p>\n

\"AA worker in a mask walks off a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight departing from King County International Airport-Boeing Field in Seattle on Aug. 23.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Wasson\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

FBOs \u201care critical, obviously, because they provide fuel and other services while the plane makes its stops,\u201d said Tom Cartwright, a retired financial executive who has tracked ICE flights for nearly six years. <\/p>\n

Cartwright estimated that through the end of June, 95% of the ICE Air flights he\u2019d tracked were operated by charter companies, with military and Coast Guard planes being used for the remainder. That doesn\u2019t include a tally of commercial flights used to deport people, he said \u2014 but in fiscal year 2017, ICE Air used charter flights to remove or transfer 181,317 people, compared with just 8,288 who were removed on commercial flights, according to a 2019 DHS inspector general report<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, when they\u2019re doing 1,100 flights a month, that\u2019s a pretty significant piece of the operation \u2014 so they\u2019re absolutely critical,\u201d he said of the planes carrying immigration detainees. \u201cWithout a fixed-base operator, I\u2019m not sure this system really operates.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a recent report<\/a> covering local connections to alleged human rights violations stemming from the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement agenda, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR), which has studied ICE Air flights for years<\/a>, called out Gates\u2019 Signature Aviation investment specifically. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Washington, our most famous philanthropist grows his investments in part by supporting a company complicit in gross human rights abuses, potentially ascending to the level of crimes against humanity,\u201d the report alleged.<\/p>\n

Signature At Work<\/strong><\/p>\n

To report this story, HuffPost scoured government records and plane location data, collected plane-spotting reports from activists on the ground, and matched aviation photographs to planes known to ferry ICE detainees. Still, ICE Air operates largely in the shadows, and many key players, including Signature Aviation, did not answer detailed questions about their operations. <\/p>\n

So we wanted to see the process for ourselves. On Aug. 31, HuffPost witnessed Signature Aviation in action. On the tarmac of Newark Liberty International Airport, a couple hundred yards from Signature\u2019s private terminal, a Signature-branded set of boarding stairs and fuel tanker met a Boeing 737 belonging to Avelo Airlines, the low-cost carrier that has faced protests<\/a> and a boycott<\/a> from potential passengers over its work with ICE Air<\/a>. Like other Avelo<\/a> planes<\/a> working ICE Air flights, this plane, with the tail number N801XT, was recently painted completely white, erasing any prominent Avelo branding<\/a>. <\/p>\n

One by one, 16 people dressed in white and gray, and shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, hobbled off the plane and onto Signature Aviation\u2019s boarding stairs, unable to reach the handrail on the stairs. On the tarmac, the second man in line shuffled his feet slightly, taking uneven steps as his head drooped, making him look older than the rest. The plane had just finished a two-and-a-half-hour flight<\/a> from Alexandria, Louisiana, a central hub<\/a> for ICE Air flights, meaning the men had likely<\/a> been shackled for several hours straight. The detainees waited on the tarmac as they were processed into sprinter vans with flashing police lights. A Signature-branded fuel tanker sidled up to the plane, and personnel on the ground hauled plastic mesh bags known<\/a> to be used for detainees\u2019 personal belongings. Eventually, accompanied by Port Authority police vehicles, the caravan left the tarmac, likely heading to nearby ICE detention facilities. <\/p>\n

Two weeks prior, HuffPost saw a similar scene play out, when a plane operated by Eastern Air Express \u2014 the same aircraft CNN recently spotted<\/a> ferrying people in ICE custody \u2014 was met with similar fanfare at Newark. Law enforcement vehicles with flashing lights approached that plane as well, including one that looked similar to a shuttle bus previously filmed<\/a> transporting detainees out of Delaney Hall, the infamous<\/a> immigration jail. <\/p>\n

In both cases, after about an hour on the ground, the planes continued on their way around the country, ferrying people in ICE custody to other detention facilities, and for some, onto their ultimate deportation, according to one activist plane spotter who goes by the moniker \u201cJJ in DC\u201d on Bluesky and who helped HuffPost track the aircraft.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn Washington, our most famous philanthropist grows his investments in part by supporting a company complicit in gross human rights abuses, potentially ascending to the level of crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Recent report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Such scenes are now commonplace throughout the country. But they are not new. For over a decade, private aviation contractors have handled tens of thousands of ICE Air flights, according to Cartwright\u2019s count, which can collectively transfer or remove<\/a> hundreds of thousands of people annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recent video from King County\u2019s cameras at Boeing Field-King County International Airport in Seattle shows a grim parade of detainees. One climbs a set of boarding stairs while shackled and holding a cane<\/a>. Another, also shackled \u2014 detainees generally are, including during flights \u2014 is manhandled by several guards<\/a> who run him onto the plane; a few feet before Signature\u2019s staircase, the group stumbles and the man falls onto the tarmac.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of restraints on detainees during deportation flights is a standard ICE protocol and an essential measure to ensure the safety and well-being of both detainees and the officers\/agents accompanying them,\u201d an unidentified DHS spokesperson told HuffPost in a statement. \u201cOur practices align with those followed by other relevant authorities and is fully in line with established legal standards.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously,\u201d the statement added. \u201cICE Air Operations flights are law enforcement sensitive. ICE conducts flights throughout the U.S. on a daily basis. For operational security purposes, ICE does not discuss ongoing or future operations.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. and Signature Aviation flags fly outside Signature Aviation’s Newark Liberty International Airport terminal.<\/p>\n

Illustration: HuffPost; Photo: Will Tooke\/HuffPost<\/p>\n

Activists working to end ICE Air\u2019s presence in Seattle have zeroed in on Signature\u2019s work as a service provider for charter flights. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe presence of Signature is essential for ICE to be within the airport, because without having a fixed-base operator to service the planes, they can\u2019t land there, and no one else is doing this type of work,\u201d said Guadalupe Gonzalez, flight monitoring coordinator for La Resistencia, an immigrant-led activist group in Washington state that seeks to end immigrant detention and deportation. \u201cSignature Aviation specifically are the ones responsible for servicing ICE at Boeing Field.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gonzalez said La Resistencia volunteers, who observe ICE Air transfers in person at Boeing Field, have in recent years reported seeing detainees bound in the \u201cWRAP\u201d restraint system, a type of full-body restraint device that has come under<\/a> scrutiny in the past. More commonly, Gonzalez said, people with mobility issues were made to walk up Signature\u2019s stairs to a waiting ICE Air flight. <\/p>\n

Not having a presence at Boeing Field, Gonzalez said, \u201cwould impair [ICE\u2019s] efforts to deport as many people as possible \u2014 or, at the very minimum, make it more costly.\u201d <\/p>\n

Signature Aviation did not answer a lengthy list of questions about its practices, including its involvement with ICE Air. Instead, the company sent a one-sentence statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur FBOs must accept flight operations that comply with the law, FAA regulations and contract requirements at federally funded airports,\u201d said Rosanna Fiske, the company\u2019s global head of corporate affairs.<\/p>\n

Fiske did not respond to follow-up questions about the nature of Signature\u2019s obligations, including the terms of contracts it may have signed with ICE Air charter operators.<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t Want Bill\u2019s Name In The Headlines\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gates is a significant shareholder in Signature Aviation. Cascade Investment LLC, the holding company for Gates\u2019 and the Gates Foundation\u2019s assets, first bought a piece of the company\u2019s predecessor, BBA Aviation<\/a>, in 2009<\/a>. In 2021, a bidding war<\/a> broke out over the company, and Gates\u2019 Cascade \u2014 then Signature\u2019s largest<\/a> individual shareholder, with a 19% stake \u2014 joined forces with Blackstone Group and Global Infrastructure Partners to buy it outright<\/a>. (Global Infrastructure Partners was acquired<\/a> by BlackRock in 2024.)<\/p>\n

Working together, the three firms bought Signature for $4.7 billion, with Cascade winding up with 30% of the company. <\/p>\n

Cascade Investment LLC is overseen<\/a> by Cascade Asset Management Company. That firm\u2019s chief investment officer is Michael Larson, who has Gates\u2019 \u201ccomplete trust and faith,\u201d Gates said in 2014, at a party he threw celebrating the 20th anniversary of Larson managing his assets. The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> at the time that their arrangement was \u201csimple: Mr. Larson makes money, and Mr. Gates gives it away.\u201d Cascade Investment is located in the same Kirkland, Washington, office park as Gates\u2019 personal office, The New York Times noted<\/a> in a 2021 story. Cascade\u2019s mandate, one unnamed former employee told the Times for the same story, was: \u201cWe don\u2019t want Bill\u2019s name in the headlines.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cascade\u2019s work on Gates\u2019 behalf has come up in the news before. <\/p>\n

For example, when The Land Report revealed<\/a> in 2021 that Gates was \u201cAmerica\u2019s largest private farmland owner,\u201d what they were really talking about, as NBC News later described it<\/a>, was farmland \u201cpurchased through a constellation of companies that all link back to [Bill and Melinda Gates\u2019] investment group, Cascade Investments, based in Kirkland, Washington.\u201d When Gates was asked about his farmland purchases, which made national news, he said<\/a>, \u201cMy investment group chose to do this\u201d and<\/a> \u201call these decisions are made by a professional investment team.\u201d <\/p>\n

The same might apply to Signature Aviation. It\u2019s unclear how much Gates knows about his stake in the company, or whether he knows that Signature plays such a crucial role in Trump\u2019s mass deportation operation. <\/p>\n

Still, \u201cit would be surprising if Gates couldn\u2019t influence a decision to disinvest of this particular investment,\u201d said Cartwright, who before his retirement spent decades at J.P. Morgan<\/a>, including as chief financial officer of one division that covered 5,000 bank branches. <\/p>\n

The foundation has previously addressed concerns about its money being invested in Signature Aviation. One complaint recently filed through EthicsPoint, a public-facing portal to submit ethical concerns to the foundation, and later shared with HuffPost, accused the foundation of \u201cproviding material support for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u201d through its investment in Signature.<\/p>\n

In response, the foundation said it did not \u201ccontrol or participate in the activities of the Gates Foundation Trust.\u201d Instead, the foundation said, the trust\u2019s assets were \u201cindependently managed by Cascade Asset Management Company.\u201d <\/p>\n

Signature\u2019s Footprint<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look closely and you\u2019ll see Signature Aviation popping up across Trump\u2019s mass deportation pipeline. <\/p>\n

In fact, the company is part of perhaps the most infamous footage of Trump\u2019s second term so far: an \u201cASMR\u201d<\/a> video<\/a> that glorifies shackling and transporting immigration detainees. The video was filmed at Boeing Field<\/a>, where the number of contracted ICE flights, all serviced by Signature Aviation, has shot up<\/a> this year. It also happens to be a 20-minute drive from the Gates Foundation\u2019s offices. <\/p>\n

Signature\u2019s distinct logo<\/a> is visible at the top of a set of boarding stairs about five seconds into the clip: <\/p>\n

Signature did not answer HuffPost\u2019s inquiry about where it serviced ICE Air flights, but the company has had a significant footprint in servicing aviation contractors hired by ICE. In 2019, one internal ICE document<\/a> listed Signature as the designated FBO for contracted ICE flights at 12 major domestic airports: Atlanta, Dallas, Newark, Houston, Laredo, Kansas City, Memphis, Minneapolis-Saint Paul<\/a>, Chicago, San Diego, San Antonio, and Denver, where HuffPost recently spotted a set of Signature boarding stairs pulled up to another all-white Avelo Air plane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while it\u2019s not clear whether ICE Air still uses every airport on the 2019 list, the list also doesn\u2019t include airports where Signature has recently been spotted servicing ICE Air flights. For example, the 2019 document doesn\u2019t include Seattle\u2019s Boeing Field. Signature now frequently<\/a> services ICE flights there, and detainees picked up at the airport have ended up in El Salvador\u2019s CECOT prison, Guant\u00e1namo Bay, and South Sudan, according to the recent report<\/a> from UWCHR. The human rights center previously obtained the 2019 list of airports that listed FBOs servicing the ICE flights pursuant to a public records request to ICE. <\/p>\n

Signature also appears to be servicing immigration flights out of Jacksonville, Florida. One March email with the subject line \u201cICE Schedule This Week\u201d notes several charter flights landing at Jacksonville International Airport. The activist group Ground ICE \u2014 which aims<\/a> to \u201climit the rate at which I.C.E. can transport and remove its detainees\u201d \u2014 obtained the document through a public records request and shared it with HuffPost. Recipients of the email included Signature Aviation\u2019s Jacksonville manager as well as several email accounts associated with GEO Group, a private prison contractor.<\/p>\n

In July, Fox 13 News Utah captured video<\/a> of apparent immigration detainees climbing a set of Signature boarding stairs at Salt Lake City International Airport. <\/p>\n

And Rolling Stone recently spotted<\/a> a Coast Guard plane refueling and boarding ICE detainees at Baltimore\/Washington International Airport. Independent journalist Gillian Brockell, who wrote the Rolling Stone story, told HuffPost that Signature Aviation refueled the plane.<\/p>\n

Signature is also the only FBO<\/a> at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Ground ICE has noted. Planes carrying immigration detainees pass through that airport once or twice a week, according to Cartwright, who is currently transitioning his work<\/a> over to the group Human Rights First<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dehumanizing To A Lot Of Degrees\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Various entities involved with Gates\u2019 ICE Air investment proclaim their commitment to human rights. <\/p>\n

Signature Aviation itself says<\/a> it is committed to \u201crefraining from coercion and never deliberately causing harm to anyone\u201d and that it takes steps \u201cto confirm that our businesses and supply chains are free from modern slavery and human trafficking.\u201d Another company policy requires that suppliers \u201cnever use, support, or engage in forced or indentured labor, or practices involving coercion, deception, or abuse of power \u2014 including human trafficking, slavery and child labor.\u201d As part of its efforts to combat human trafficking, it says it works with<\/a> the Department of Homeland Security. (ICE falls under the purview of DHS.) <\/p>\n

Cascade says<\/a> it takes \u201ca value-oriented approach\u201d to investing money for Gates and the Gates Foundation Trust, and that one of its objectives is to \u201cprotect Bill and the Trust by acting lawfully, honestly, ethically, and with integrity, safeguarding their assets and information.\u201d It notes<\/a> that \u201cneither Cascade nor the Trust play a role in the grantmaking or operations of the foundation\u201d and that the foundation \u201cdoes not control or participate in the Trust\u2019s investment activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gates Foundation says<\/a> its mission is to \u201ccreate a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life,\u201d and the foundation has awarded grants<\/a> to multiple prominent immigration-focused nonprofits. <\/p>\n

\"ImmigrationImmigration and Customs Enforcement detainees disembark from an “ICE Air” flight at Newark Liberty International Airport using a set of Signature Aviation boarding stairs.<\/p>\n

Photo: Matt Shuham\/HuffPost<\/p>\n

The experiences of immigration detainees traveling on ICE Air \u2014 particularly ICE\u2019s use of shackles, which bind their wrists and ankles \u2014 seemingly stand in contrast to those commitments. <\/p>\n

The shackles \u201cfelt very disrespectful, dehumanizing to a lot of degrees,\u201d Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist jailed and threatened with deportation for his beliefs, recalled to Zeteo<\/a> after his release from ICE custody in June. <\/p>\n

After more than a day of travel, \u201cby the time I arrived in Jena, [Louisiana, home to an infamous ICE jail,] I couldn\u2019t walk because my leg was swollen from the shackles,\u201d Khalil added.<\/p>\n

Deportation flight passengers have alleged \u201cthe use of racist epithets and insults, and rough physical treatment upon boarding,\u201d as well as, in more isolated cases, \u201cbeatings, the use of straitjackets, verbal abuse and threats, and the denial of access to restrooms,\u201d according to a UWCHR summary<\/a> of public records<\/a> it received detailing the complaints. <\/p>\n

In one case, a Somalia-bound deportation flight sat on a tarmac in Senegal for a full day due to technical issues, while detainees remained shackled inside and the plane\u2019s toilets \u201coverfilled with human waste,\u201d according to a subsequent lawsuit<\/a>. The plane eventually returned all of the detainees to the United States. (The suit was ultimately dismissed<\/a> for jurisdictional reasons, and many of the people on the ill-fated flight continued to face deportation proceedings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Seattle Shows Vulnerabilities Of Private System<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relying on private contractors at every stage of the deportation process creates major vulnerabilities for ICE \u2014 which may be why the Trump administration is reportedly<\/a> considering purchasing its own fleet of deportation planes. <\/p>\n

While giant private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group are dependent on federal contracts to survive, FBOs work in different economic conditions. Most rely on business from corporate and private jet travel, and they\u2019re often subject to local political pressure. For example, Ground ICE has encouraged pilots<\/a> to write to Signature Aviation and \u201clet them know you will not be buying fuel from them\u201d due to their work for ICE. <\/p>\n

More than anywhere else, Seattle\u2019s Boeing Field represents how local anti-deportation sentiment can affect FBOs and seriously slow down ICE\u2019s work. <\/p>\n

In 2019, amid pressure<\/a> from local activist groups and an impactful<\/a> report from UWCHR concerning \u201cKing County Collaboration with ICE Air Deportation Flights at Boeing Field,\u201d then-King County executive Dow Constantine ordered<\/a>, among other things, that future leases at Boeing Field contain a prohibition against the private transport of immigration detainees. The FBO for those flights at the time, Modern Aviation, stopped servicing them soon after that executive order, even though the order was ultimately blocked in court. Two other FBOs at the airport, including Signature, also said they \u201cwill not take over from Modern in servicing ICE flights,\u201d The Seattle Times reported at the time<\/a>, citing the airport\u2019s director. (Matt Dill, general manager at Modern Aviation\u2019s location at Boeing Field, declined to comment.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the help of such companies,\u201d the paper reported, \u201cflights cannot operate at the airport. Though they can technically take off and land, [airport director John] Parrott said, flights need a company to open gates, to provide stairs to get passengers on and off planes, and to offer fuel.\u201d <\/p>\n

Without an FBO in Seattle, ICE was forced to route planes through Yakima<\/a> \u2014 where the airport was smaller, more remote, and hours inland. In a court filing<\/a>, the Trump administration said it only landed on the remote airport after approaching three others \u201cwithout success.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Trump administration also acknowledged at the time that this shift jammed the gears of its deportation machinery, particularly when it came to people detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. <\/p>\n

\u201cTransporting detainees from Tacoma to Yakima, as compared to Tacoma to Boeing Field, adds, at a minimum, six hours of travel time to the process of executing an ICE Air flight,\u201d the filing read.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally,\u201d it continued, \u201cthe transport to Yakima and back frequently requires the use of an additional bus and two additional officers, as well as additional meal and fuel costs. This takes resources away from federal law enforcement tasks that would otherwise be performed if the ICE Air flights were flying out of Boeing Field. Relocation of the ICE Air flights to Yakima also impacts ICE operations in Yakima, requiring ICE to utilize staffing of at least two officers from its Yakima sub-office to facilitate the flight processing in Yakima. Additionally, travel over the mountain passes in winter is hazardous, and frequently either slowed significantly by road conditions or suspended altogether, as was the case on January 14, 2020, when an ICE Air flight had to be cancelled due to road conditions prohibiting transport.\u201d <\/p>\n

On March 30, 2023, a federal judge ruled against<\/a> the county\u2019s executive order requiring future FBO leases to prohibit work on deportation flights. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, Signature Aviation said, \u2018OK, we\u2019ll do that business,\u2019\u201d recalled Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, the director of UWCHR. \u201cEver since then, the ICE flights have resumed at Boeing Field, and they\u2019re being served by Signature Aviation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Local public radio station KNKX described Signature<\/a> at the time as \u201cthe fixed-base operator that agreed to service ICE flights at Boeing Field.\u201d <\/p>\n

By May 2, four years after ICE Air flights stopped at Boeing Field, they resumed again, according to records of the flights<\/a> kept by the county. Signature has been their sole service provider ever since, according to the same records. <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWithout a fixed-base operator, I\u2019m not sure this system really operates.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Tom Cartwright, a retired financial executive who has tracked ICE flights for nearly six years<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For Godoy, the years-long absence of deportation flights running through Seattle shows just how important FBOs like Signature Aviation are.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in Seattle, what we saw in 2019 and to this date, was that when there was enough local concern, and people expressing local outrage about it, that the other FBOs also didn\u2019t want to do it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are businesses who will say, \u2018No, we don\u2019t want this, we don\u2019t want to be associated with this.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Local pressure also may have recently disrupted ICE Air operations on the other side of the country. Last month, after media attention<\/a> and local protest over the spike in immigration flights from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts \u2014 including specific attention on Signature Aviation<\/a> for servicing the flights \u2014 the ICE Air flights to that airport stopped<\/a>, instead going through<\/a> Portsmouth International Airport at Pease in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Signature does not have a presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was because the activists were so annoying, basically, to that airfield, and they were so focused on Signature, that they decided to shift to [Portsmouth International Airport] as the hub for New England,\u201d JJ in DC posited to HuffPost, referring to the shift from Massachusetts to New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

Godoy also speculated that the shift came in response to protest. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy impression is that, for Signature, the ICE flights are only a portion of their business, and not the majority of their business \u2014 and when the ICE flights become sufficiently notorious, that threatens Signature\u2019s overall business, and then they say \u2018no thanks,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it looks to me \u2014 this is speculation, because I\u2019m not privy to the discussions between ICE and Signature \u2014 like that\u2019s what happened at Hanscom Field,\u201d Godoy added. \u201cSo now, ICE is going to be using a more far-away airport, which is more inconvenient for them. And they haven\u2019t said why.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, even apparent route changes may not last: Two flights from Avelo Airlines planes landed at Hanscom Field on Friday and Saturday, flight records show. The airline, ICE, and Signature Aviation did not respond to questions about the purpose of the flights.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not Just Bill<\/strong><\/p>\n

The financial backing behind Signature Aviation doesn\u2019t stop with Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation. <\/p>\n

Annual financial reports reviewed by HuffPost show several large public pension funds are also stakeholders in Signature.<\/p>\n

Institutional investors Blackstone and BlackRock (via Global Infrastructure Partners) own the remainder of the company that Gates does not. And those massive asset management firms often invest money in various funds on behalf of public pensions, nonprofits and university endowments.<\/p>\n

One such fund, a BlackRock product called Global Infrastructure Partners Fund IV, has 68 such limited partners, according to data from PitchBook, a private-equity market database.<\/p>\n

That includes the California Public Employees\u2019 Retirement System, a public pension that in 2023 held more than $350 million of the fund; the New York State Common Retirement Fund; the Utah State University endowment; the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System; the Washington State Investment Board; and more than 60 others<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BlackRock and the California Public Employees\u2019 Retirement System declined to comment. The New York State Common Retirement Fund, Oregon Investment Council (which manages OPERS\u2019 investments) and the Utah State University endowment didn\u2019t respond. A spokesperson for WSIB told HuffPost that, as a policy, it does not comment on individual holdings.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s stake was flagged by UWCHR, which warned in its recent report<\/a> that \u201cpublic workers\u2019 retirements are being financed in part through investments in organizations that profit from the detention and deportation of our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

A handful of public pension funds are also invested in a similar offering from Blackstone, called Blackstone Infrastructure Partners. They include the New Mexico State Investment Council, the Orange County Employees\u2019 Retirement System, Pennsylvania Public School Employees\u2019 Retirement System, and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, according to the PitchBook data.<\/p>\n

Blackstone didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment, nor did the New Mexico State Investment Council. A spokesperson for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas declined to comment, citing a Texas law that prohibits discussing specific investments. The Orange County Employees\u2019 Retirement System and Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System similarly declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Azani Creeks, a senior campaign and research coordinator at PESP, a nonprofit watchdog organization focused on the private equity industry, told HuffPost that people whose pensions rely on these investments are entitled to have a say in their composition.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can contact pension fund staff and trustees by email to schedule a meeting, and often, pension funds have regular meetings with public comment periods in which you can communicate your concerns,\u201d Creeks said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA handful of private equity firms, drawing on capital from pension funds, foundations, endowments, insurance companies, and other institutional investors, exert major influence through investments in companies providing services to immigrant detention facilities and migrant shelters around the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

JJ in DC noted that in his work tracking immigration flights, he\u2019s been struck by just how opaque the process is. The Department of Homeland Security contracts with its main broker<\/a>, CSI Aviation, which works with a network of subcontractors including GlobalX, Avelo and Eastern Air Express. Those firms in turn work with FBOs like Signature Aviation. Along the way, airplanes have been made harder to spot \u2014 with some losing all of their external branding or being taken off public flight trackers<\/a>, though their information is still available on crowdsourced networks like ADS-B Exchange<\/a>. (Anyone with the correct receiver<\/a> can contribute to the site, which presents location information broadcast by individual aircraft over radio waves<\/a> as an interactive and real-time, though not always complete, map<\/a> of global aviation traffic.) <\/p>\n

The result, in the end, are taxpayer dollars quietly contributing to the portfolios of people like Gates and the Gates Foundation Trust. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big pressure point,\u201d JJ in DC told HuffPost. \u201cAnd if more people apply pressure, it\u2019s going to hurt their operations, and they\u2019re going to have to adjust.\u201d <\/p>\n

Matt Shuham reported from New York. Ryan Grenoble reported from Denver. <\/p>\n