9th Circuit: County cannot prevent charter flights from deportation at airport
Immigration Law
County can’t prevent chartered deportation flights at airport, 9th Circuit rules
December 4, 2024, 9:02 am CST
An aerial view of the King County International Airport in Washington. (Photo from KingCounty.gov)
King County in Washington can’t prevent the federal government from using a Seattle-area airport for chartered deportation flights, the 9th U.S. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Nov. 29, ruling in favor of the U.S. government. At issue was a 2019 Executive Order that prohibited the servicing of deportation flight charters by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the King County International Airport, Washington. The order by King County executive Dow Constantine applied to fixed-base operators signing future leases at the airport, which is also known as Boeing Field.
Fixed-based operators lease space from Boeing Field and provide services to charter flights that include fueling, landing stairs, lavatory maintenance and aircraft parking, the 9th Circuit explained.
The appeals court said the order was invalid for two reasons.
First, the order violated the supremacy clause’s intergovernmental immunity doctrine that prohibits states from interfering with or controlling the operations of the federal government.
“The executive order effectively grants King County the ‘power to control’ ICE’s transportation and deportation operations, forcing ICE either to stop using Boeing Field or to use government-owned planes there,” the appeals court said.
Second, the order violated a contract agreement signed when the federal government transferred ownership of the airport back to King County at the end of World War II. The agreement granted the United States nonexclusive use of landing area at no charge. Judge Daniel A. Bress is a 2019 appointee by then-President Donald Trump. The AP reports that King County revised its executive order after a federal judge ruled in favor of the federal government last year.
