Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to keep fighting to continue deportation flights out of Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, even though a federal judge knocked down King County’s attempt to block ICE using the county-owned airport on Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan ruled that a 2019 order by King County Executive Dow Constantine was invalid because it violated the terms under which the federal government had given the airport back to the county in 1948. However, Constantine responded to the Thursday ruling with a new executive order, issued on Friday night, intended to continue preventing the airport from being used for deportation flights, according to the Seattle Times.
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“If the federal government insists on using our public airport for purposes that go against the County’s values, the public has every right to know,” Constantine said in a prepared statement. “My order today continues the stance we took in the darkest days of the Trump administration and will ensure that we lead with our values.”
The new order by Constantine says Boeing Field cannot use “its discretionary resources to support the transportation and deportation of immigration detainees in the custody of ICE, either traveling within or arriving or departing the United States or its territories.” However, the order does create exceptions, where required by federal law, Federal Aviation Administration regulations, or the 1948 agreement.
Prior to the 2019 order, the Boeing Field airport had been used by ICE to fly immigrants to their home countries and also to bring in others from around the U.S. for incarceration in Tacoma, Washington. Constantine’s order in 2019 was intended to prevent ICE from continuing this.
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ICE has yet to confirm how it will respond to Constantine’s latest order or if it will resume its use of the Seattle airport.
The Washington Examiner has contacted ICE for comment.
