By Armando Hernandez
03 Dec 2024, 17:39 PM EST
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may continue to use a Seattle airport for deportation charter flights, according to a federal appeals court in a decision that rejected a 2019 local order that sought to counter the immigration policies of then-President Donald Trump.
With this determination, United States immigration authorities can use the Boeing Field airport, in the state of Washington, for their deportation flights and in the face of the threats announced by Donald Trump during the campaign regarding massive raids against immigrants.
A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that King County regents exceeded their powers when they attempted to prevent ICE from using the county-owned airport to carry out deportations.
The county issued an executive order to “ensure that all future leases, operating permits and other authorizations for commercial activity at King County International Airport contain a prohibition on providing services to companies engaged in the business of deporting detainees for immigration (except federal government aircraft).”
The order led ICE to begin using an airport in Yakima — a much longer drive from ICE’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma — for deportation flights.
Then, The Trump administration sued King County in 2020, arguing that Constantine’s order discriminated against the federal government by targeting it and its contractors for unfavorable treatment, and that it violated the terms of a World War II-era contract guaranteeing the federal government’s right to use the airport.
Now with this ruling, a King County spokesperson said that the county would not seek further appeals and that, although they do not agree with the court’s decision, they will abide by the ruling, according to information cited by The Seattle Times.
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