Avelo Airlines, a budget carrier, began deportation flights from Arizona on Monday under contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Flights departed from the Mesa Gateway Airport outside Phoenix, according to The Associated Press, which added that the company will use three Boeing 737-800s for the removals. 

“Having a portion of our company dedicated to charter flying, without exposure to fluctuating fuel prices or risk from macroeconomic factors, provides us with the stability to grow our core business, which is scheduled passenger travel,” Avelo founder and CEO Andrew Levy said in a statement to the Arizona News. 

He added that the partnership with Homeland Security would help Avelo retain approximately 1,100 crew members and expand passenger service. 

But several groups have criticized the deportation flights. 

“We urge Avelo to reconsider this decision that will be bad for the airline and our country. Flight Attendants are charged with the safety and health of the passengers on our flights and to evacuate an airplane in 90 seconds or less in the event of an emergency,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in an April statement after an agreement between the carrier and Homeland Security was signed.

“Having an entire flight of people handcuffed and shackled would hinder any evacuation and risk injury or death. It also impedes our ability to respond to a medical emergency, fire on board, decompression, etc. We cannot do our jobs in these conditions,” it added.

The New Haven Immigrants Coalition, an immigrant rights group, created a petition that now has more than 30,000 signatures condemning the airline's deportation flights.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has slammed reporting on privatized deportation efforts. 

“This is nothing more than a tired tactic to abolish ICE by proxy. Avelo Airlines is a sub-carrier on a government contract to assist with deportation flights. Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults,” the agency wrote in a Tuesday post on the social platform X.

“Illegal aliens that ICE is deporting broke our nation’s laws. DHS is a law enforcement agency, and it will continue to carry out immigration enforcement for the safety of Americans who have been victimized by rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, and gang members,” it added.