BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey is now going after the company that fuels the planes.
In a letter sent Friday to Tony Lefebvre, CEO of Florida-based Signature Aviation, Healey demanded the company sever its relationship with ICE at Hanscom Field in Bedford — the regional airport that has become a key hub for deportation flights out of Massachusetts.
Signature is the largest fixed base operator in the country and the only one serving ICE at Hanscom. The company handles fueling, parking, gate access, and escorts ICE vehicles carrying detainees to the tarmac. In other words, without Signature, the flights don't happen.
"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," Healey wrote.
That appears to be exactly what she's hoping for.
132 flights in one year
A total of 132 ICE flights departed from Hanscom during the first year of President Trump's second term, with 129 flights arriving, according to data from the nonprofit Human Rights First. Thirteen flights departed in January 2026 alone.
Healey has been trying to shut down this pipeline for months. In December, she sent a letter to federal officials demanding they stop using Hanscom for immigration enforcement. In January, she directly appealed to two private airline companies, urging them to stop assisting ICE.
Neither worked. So now she's going after the fuel.
'Beloved community members'
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Healey's office pointed to what it says are ICE's own numbers showing that a majority of people detained in Massachusetts since Trump took office have no criminal convictions or charges. She described these detainees as "beloved community members" who have been "indiscriminately targeted."
But the timing is awkward. Here's what ICE Boston has been pulling off Massachusetts streets in just the past week:
ICE's field office director has previously called Massachusetts officials' approach "politically motivated," accusing the state of releasing criminals rather than cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
'You have a choice'
In her letter, Healey accused ICE of violating due process, court orders, and constitutional rights. She called attention to the money the Trump administration has poured into the agency.
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"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.
She pointed to language on Signature's own website about the company "always thinking" about its place in the communities it serves, then delivered an ultimatum:
"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."
Signature Aviation did not respond to requests for comment.
The strategy
Healey has dramatically escalated her public confrontation with the Trump administration and ICE in recent months. Last week, she demanded information from federal officials about every person detained by ICE since the beginning of Trump's second term.
The strategy is clear: first the federal government, then the airlines, now the fuel company. If Healey can't stop ICE directly, she's working to dismantle the private infrastructure that makes deportation flights possible.
Whether Signature Aviation — a national company with operations across the country — will bend to pressure from a single state governor remains to be seen.
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