Signature Aviation refuels and services aircraft used to deport people from communities across the country. Public pension funds in your state hold investments in the company. Trustees have the authority — and the duty — to ask hard questions.
Signature Aviation provides aviation fuel and logistical support for I.C.E. detainee transport flights in a number of cities throughout the United States. Although the company lacks a direct contractual relationship with I.C.E. itself, Signature works closely with its contracted charter airlines to facilitate these flights.
Signature is owned by Global Infrastructure Partners IV (GIP IV), a fund managed by BlackRock. Public pension funds in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and other states hold investments in GIP IV. That means state workers, retirees, and union pension beneficiaries have an unintended stake in this business through their retirement savings.
We are asking state pension fund officials to engage their investment managers and demand answers. Signature refused to service ICE flights at Boeing Field in 2019 — documented in sworn federal testimony — and faced no legal consequences. The company's claim that it has no choice is contradicted by its own past conduct. Pension trustees have a fiduciary duty to ask hard questions when a portfolio holding carries material reputational and ESG risk.
Choose your state below. We will help you draft a letter to the right officials, personalized with your role as a state employee, retiree, or union pension beneficiary.
The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust holds GIP IV through its private markets allocation. Recipients include the Treasurer and PRIM board members.
Send your letter →Letters go to the Treasurer's Deputy Director of Corporate Governance & Sustainable Investments and the Director of Policy.
Send your letter →The Maine Public Employees Retirement System board oversees the state's GIP IV exposure. Letters go to the executive director and trustees.
Send your letter →This is a national campaign — Signature operates in every state. To add your state, email us and we will tell you what's needed.
In May 2019, Signature (then operating as Clay Lacy) refused to service ICE Air flights at Boeing Field in Washington — established under oath in U.S. v. King County. The company faced no legal consequence. Its current "we have no choice" defense is contradicted by its own conduct.
Signature Aviation represents roughly 12% of the GIP IV fund. State pension funds holding GIP IV have material exposure to a company whose business practices are an active subject of public controversy.
ICE contracts with Classic Air Charter, which contracts with carriers like CSI Medical Transport, which Signature services on the ground. The "no direct contract with ICE" defense is technically narrow — and strategically misleading.