American, United, Frontier Airlines Ask DHS Not to Put Separated Migrant Children on Flights

Fort Worth-based American Airlines say they have asked the Trump administration not to put migrant children who have been separated from their parents on their flights.

Representatives for Chicago-based United Airlines and Denver-based Frontier Airlines have done the same.

In separate statements released Wednesday, the airlines said that the administration's recent immigration policy of separating migrant families conflicts with their values.

"We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said in a statement.

United issued a statement in which CEO Oscar Munoz said the company's purpose is to connect people.

"This policy and its impact on thousands of children is in deep conflict with that mission and we want no part of it," he said.

Frontier said they took pride in being a family airline and would not knowingly transport children separated from their parents.

Frontier prides itself on being a family airline and we will not knowingly allow our flights to be used to transport migrant children away from their families. At this time, we are not aware if Frontier has been used for this purpose.

— Frontier Airlines (@FlyFrontier) June 20, 2018

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Q. Houlton responded via Twitter with a series of statements saying it was unfortunate airlines no longer wanted to parther with the DHS to keep Americans safe and that he wished they would be part of the solution.

It’s unfortunate that @AmericanAir , @united, and @FlyFrontier 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.

— DHS Press Secretary (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018

Representatives for all three airlines said they do not know whether any migrant children have been on their flights, though in recent days several flight attendants have gone on social media to report seeing groups of children on their flights whom they believed to be children separated from their migrant families.

Many airlines have contracts to provide travel services to the U.S. government. Parker said, however, that the government doesn't provide information about the passengers or their reason for travel.

Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump told reporters he would sign an executive order Wednesday to end the practice of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the border illegally.

Since the White House announced a "zero-tolerance" policy toward undocumented migrants in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, leading to a spike in the number of young children under government care.