Domestic Airlines Ask U.S. Government Not to Fly Separated Children On Their Planes

Three airlines in the U.S. — American, United and Frontier — on Wednesday asked the federal government not to use their airlines to transport children who were separated from their families under a controversial immigration policy targeting illegal immigrants.

The airlines responded after news reports that claimed migrant children separated from their parents were transported on some flights.

The Houston Chronicle published on Tuesday an adapted Facebook post by Hunt Palmquist, whose bio said he is a Dallas-based flight attendant for a major U.S. carrier. He said that "little children whose faces were full of fear, confusion, sadness and exhaustion left me somewhat traumatized as it occurred to me a few weeks later that I might as well have been a collaborator in their transport.

"I will immediately remove myself from the trip due to the nature of this unconscionable act by my government and my employer's complicity," he wrote.

Another Facebook post that said it was passed along from a flight attendant said more than a dozen migrant children appeared to have been transported on an overnight flight from Phoenix to Miami.

American Airlines said it had "no knowledge" the federal government used the airline to transport migrant children who were separated from their parents under the immigration policy but asked the government to "immediately refrain" from using the airline for that purpose.

"We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it," American Airlines said in a statement. "We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so."

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz said the airline had not seen any evidence that children separated from their parents who had entered the U.S. illegally were flown on its planes, but the airline said it told the government it "should not" transport migrant children who were separated from their parents on its flights. "Our company's shared purpose is to connect people and unite the world," Munoz said in a statement. "This policy and its impact on thousands of children is in deep conflict with that mission and we want no part of it."

Privately-held, low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines also asked the U.S. government not to use its planes to fly children separated from their parents under the policy and that it is not aware if its planes have been used for that purpose.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tyler Houlton, in a tweet called it "unfortunate" that the airlines "no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 01:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).