Deportation flights at Boeing Field in Seattle resume after Ninth Circuit ruling in ICE’s favor

Seattle, Washington – A federal appeals court decided that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is allowed to keep chartered deportation flights utilizing Boeing Field, a Seattle airport. This decision follows a protracted legal struggle highlighting local initiatives in Seattle and Washington state to oppose the immigration policies supported by the former Trump government.

Reflecting the liberal posture of the local government, King County Executive Dow Constantine’s executive order to stop deportation flights from the county-owned airport set off the debate in 2019. This sequence directly ran counter to the immigration policies of the Trump government, which included increasing deportations of noncitizens deemed lawfully removable from the United States.

The 2019 executive order compelled ICE to move its deportation activities to Yakima Airport, much further from its Northwest detention facility in Tacoma. Along with posing logistical difficulties for ICE, this transfer spurred a lawsuit by the U.S. government in 2020. The federal lawsuit claimed that Constantine’s denial of Boeing Field’s use unfairly discriminated against the federal government and its contractors, so violating the terms of a historical contract spanning World War II guaranteeing the government’s right to use the airport.

Courtesy of Boeing Field airport

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Constantine changed his position with a new executive order in early 2022 after U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan decided in favor of the federal government. Unlike its predecessor, this rule forbade the use of King County resources to support deportation flights outside what federal law mandates rather than trying to outright ban deportation flights.

Apart from imposing these new restrictions, the updated executive order included steps to improve openness on deportation activities at Boeing Field. It mandated the publication of a record outlining deportation activity on the county website and offered a conference room at the airport where the public could view deportation aircraft via a live video stream.

Following Judge Bryan’s ruling and the execution of the new executive order, deportation flights at Boeing Field began in May 2023. Judge Bryan’s decision was unanimously sustained by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, therefore confirming the legitimacy of these restored operations. Under Judge Daniel A. Bress, the appellate court declared that King County’s original executive order wrongly violated federal discretion by giving it too much influence over federal deportation activities.

Courtesy of Boeing Field airport

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King County expressed its disappointment at the result, but it also said it will follow the court’s ruling. The King County Executive’s Office’s spokesperson, Amy Enbysk, expressed the county’s frustration.

“The Ninth Circuit’s decision allows a raw assertion of federal power to overcome an expression of local values even absent any actual impact,” Enbysk said in an emailed statement to AP NEWS. “Although King County disagrees with the court’s decision, it will of course follow the court’s dictates.”

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The ruling of the appeals court closes yet another major chapter in the continuous national debate on the balance of power between local government programs and federal immigration enforcement.