Back in December, Denver’s City Council voted to deny a lease at the airport to a carrier based on their politics, in clear violation of federal law.
The council voted down a proposed agreement with Key Lime Air 11-1 for 1,200 square feet of space near the south cargo area to store equipment for snow removal and an office trailer because Key Lime has operated ICE deportation flights.
Two Key Lime aircraft had been used in ICE operations, including flights moving shackled detainees between ICE hubs like El Paso, Texas and Alexandria, Louisiana. Key Lime, which is based in Colorado, had not carried out ICE flights from the state.
Several Denver councilmembers condemned the administration’s immigration policies, saying they wouldn’t support doing business with a company tied to those flights.
- This didn’t even remove Key Lime Air from the airport. They were already there.
- It just denied new dedicated leased space. They could still use common-use cargo apron space.
BOOM ✈️
“When we’re talking about the values of our city, and we stand up here and we say time after time that we support our immigrant community and that we are a welcoming city — I cannot support a corporation that does not prescribe to that,” Council member Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez said.
— JJ in DC (@jjindc.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 9:12 PM
This was a clear violation of Airport Improvement Program grant assurances. Denver airport accepts FAA funding, and agrees that it will make its facilities available “on reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination.” And the city council clearly stated the reason for the lease denial was opposition to the flights they were running for ICE. Now, $90 million for the airport is in jeopardy.
As an Enilria commenter notes, ICE buys deportation tickets and travel for its employees on a number of airlines serving the Denver airport. They were singling out Key Lime even within the framework of their own political disagreement with the carrier.
Airports can make these decisions for safety, capacity, and environmental and operational efficiency but they can’t favor or disfavor an air carrier because of its customers.
Several readers have flagged this update that the city’s attorney pushed the airport to investigate Key Lime’s safety record after the city council denied the lease, looking for an ex post justification to legitimize the city’s decision.
According to the document, Brown told airport officials: “Well you all should investigate Key Lime yourselves. If the FAA comes knocking, I want to be able to have in my back pocket that council was also voting because of safety issues but ran out of time to get to talking about that before voting.”
…The memo also states that Denver International Airport lawyer David Steinberger met with Brown again on January 9, and that she wanted him to once more raise the safety scrutiny she had recommended at the first meeting. It further recounts that Brown emailed Steinberger with “continued questions about investigating Key Lime’s safety record” after the January 6 meeting, and ” told him to relay to the group that they should continue considering safety violation inquiries into the Key Lime.” According to the memo, Brown told Steinberger that “a bad argument is better than no argument.”
A spokesperson for the mayor says that notwithstanding a memo contemporaneously documenting the conspiracy, “there was no evidence of crime or fraud” and “there was no fake investigation.” That’s probably true, only because the airport didn’t conduct the investigation. Which leaves them without even that fig leaf, and having actually taken actions in violation of the terms under which they accept federal funding.
The federal funding should not be “at risk” – It should be withdrawn. They can reapply for funding next year.
They probably shouldn’t have done this, and to imagine it wouldn’t be called out was dumb. But we have an administration that invents a non-existent organization (“Antifa”, you know, anti-fascists like the U.S. was in World War 2), and then imprisons people for belonging to it,. So compared to that this is pretty small potatoes. It’s no excuse to blame someone else for your actions, but when one side fights dirty it’s also no surprise that the other will react to it.
These comments are going to get fun!
I think you may be jumping the shark here?
In King County, WA (includes Seattle) during Trump’s first term, King County Executive Dow Constantine threatened KBFI businesses with losing their operating licenses if they serviced the federal government deportation planes.
So the Feds had to move the deportation flights to Yakima, WA, in central WA, which meant they had to bus the deportees over the Cascade Mountains.to get them onto the flights. Western WA has most.of the WA population.
There were zero repercussions for the County Executive. He was even bragging about ilhis actions to the media.
@drrichard – If you think the admin “invented” Antifa you are just a liberal fool. They are weak established anti-government organization and the state over we break them (and the other anti-government) groups the better. God bless the USA and let’s get rid of the ones standing in the way of its greatness.