County can't prevent chartered deportation flights at airport, 9th Circuit rules
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. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco ruled last week.
The appeals court ruled for the U.S. government in a Nov. 29 decision, report Law360 and the Associated Press.
At issue was a 2019 executive order banning the servicing of deportation flights chartered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the King County International Airport in 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 gave the United States the right to nonexclusive use of the landing area without charge.
Judge Daniel A. Bress, a 2019 appointee of then-President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion.
King County revised its executive order after a federal judge ruled for the federal government last year, according to the AP. It bans King County from using its resources to aid deportation flights beyond what federal law requires.
