23-05-2025
NH lawmaker sues Avelo over ICE deportation flights, First Amendment rights
A Democratic state representative from Dover is suing Avelo Airlines after the carrier agreed to operate U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights on behalf of the Trump administration.
After Rep. Seth Miller started a campaign to boycott the airline and paid for billboards to go up outside a Connecticut airport urging travelers to 'Just say AvelNO!' the company sent him a cease-and-desist letter threatening thousands of dollars in fines if they were not taken down.
After the advertising company Miller paid to display the billboards took them down, he filed a lawsuit claiming his First Amendment rights were violated.
'Avelo is free to disagree with Miller, to criticize him, and to advocate its position to the public,' the lawsuit states. 'It is free to call Miller a naif, a fool, or worse. But it is not free to use baseless threats of litigation to suppress Miller's criticism.'
After Avelo agreed to operate ICE deportation flights (which have already begun, the company said), Miller started a campaign to boycott the airline, which offers flights from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport to the Carolinas.
Just arrived
Ground crew members prepare to unload Avelo's inaugural flight from Raleigh-Durham to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in June 2023.
Miller, who represents Strafford District 21 in the House, raised enough money — $6,000 — to pay for two billboards to go up in New Haven, Connecticut, a busy hub for the airline, including one adjacent to the Tweed-New Haven Airport.
Court documents show the billboards contain an altered image of a tail of an Avelo plane and say, 'Does your vacation support their deportation? Just say AvelNO!'
Avelo sent Miller a cease-and-desist letter four days after the billboards first appeared, claiming trademark and copyright infringement and demanding the billboards be removed or else he could face up to $150,000 in fines.
In response, Miller filed a lawsuit this week in federal court in Nevada against Avelo (where the airline is incorporated) claiming the messaging on the billboards is protected free speech and doesn't infringe on trademarks.
Court documents show a letter was also sent by Avelo's lawyers to Lamar Advertising, the company Miller paid for the billboards, 'threatening them with liability.' The billboards were taken down by Lamar Advertising shortly after receiving the letter.
In the letter to Miller, Avelo writes, 'Given your clear familiarity with Avelo and its trademarks, the blatant use of our client's trademarks and trade dress with 'The AvelNo! campaign' and associated websites, billboards, and marketing material, constitutes deliberate and willful trademark infringement and unfair competition.'
'The billboard display outside the Tweed-New Haven airport is a deliberate attempt to interfere with Avelo's air transportation services because, as you are undoubtedly aware, New Haven is Avelo's hub for east coast flights,' the letter states. 'Thus, the appropriation of the AVELO house mark and targeting of Avelo's customers directly affects our client's ability to offer and render its services to current and prospective consumers.
'We have already been notified of instances of actual confusion wherein consumers have mistakenly believed that the billboard is sponsored or affiliated with Avelo, demonstrating that confusion is not only likely but inevitable.'
The lawsuit asks the court to declare Miller hasn't violated Avelo's copyright and trademark, and allow the public to continue seeing Miller's messaging as protected free speech.
'Miller's speech cannot possibly infringe Avelo's marks because it is entitled to protection under the Rogers First Amendment test — Miller's speech does not function as a trademark, it clearly mocks Avelo's trademark, and it is therefore paradigmatic protected speech,' the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit goes on to say Miller's speech 'could not possibly have confused any reasonable person about the source of airline passenger service.'
A spokesperson for Avelo on Friday said the airline had no comment on the lawsuit.
'Avelo's main priority will continue to be maintaining the safety and timeliness of our operation for our customers,' the spokesperson said in an email.
A request for comment from ICE was not immediately returned Friday.
