A federal appeals court has ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can continue using Seattle’s King County International Airport (Boeing Field) for chartered deportation flights, a decision that supports the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2019 local executive order aimed at blocking deportations from the airport, arguing that King County had violated its contract by prohibiting ICE’s use of the facility.
The court determined that the local order was illegal, as it interfered with federal immigration processes. The order had forced ICE to relocate deportation flights to an airport in Yakima, Washington, resulting in increased operational costs and security concerns due to the greater distance from the Northwest detention center.
In 2020, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit against King County, claiming the county had breached a contract that allowed the federal government to use the airport. The court sided with the U.S., agreeing that the county’s actions were discriminatory against federal immigration efforts.
The ruling also introduced new measures for transparency, allowing the public to observe deportation flights through a video feed and access flight logs posted on the county’s website. This decision ensures that ICE can continue its operations at Boeing Field without local interference.
