U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights in a win for incoming President-elect Trump’s administration, a federal appeals court ruled.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling rejected a 2019 local executive order that sought to counter then-President Trump’s immigration policies, saying that King County, Washington violated its contract by prohibiting deportations at King County International Airport, which is also known as Boeing Field.
The court ruled that the order was unlawful because it discriminated against ICE and targeted federal operations. In 2019, Trump used Boeing Fields to deport illegal migrants from the U.S. and the local county sought to block the president’s removal operations.
This Feb. 23, 2018 file photo shows cranes from the Port of Seattle in the background, airplanes are parked at a Boeing facility at Boeing Field in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file)
The order prompted ICE to begin using an airport in Yakima, Washington — a much longer drive from ICE’s Northwest detention center— for the deportation flights.
“The relocation increased operational costs due to the greater distance from ICE detention facilities to the airport. It also led to increased security concerns,” the ruling noted.
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In response, a legal battle with King County ensued. The U.S. in 2020 sued the county, alleging that it violated the terms of a World War II-era contract that guarantees the federal government’s right to use the airport along with discriminating against ICE.
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In a ruling on Friday, Nov. 30, 9th Circuit Judge Daniel A. Bress upheld the court’s decision. In the ruling, obtained by Fox News Digital, he wrote that, “this is not a situation in which King County officials are being conscripted into carrying out federal immigration laws on the federal government’s behalf.”
“Instead, the United States is asking King County, in its capacity as the owner of a public airport facility, to lift a discriminatory prohibition on private parties’ ability to engage in business with the federal government that supports federal immigration efforts,” the ruling states.
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