US can continue using Seattle airport for deportation flights, appeals court says

Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal appeals court says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights. In 2019, King County, which includes Seattle, expressed concern that the deportations under then-President Donald Trump could constitute human rights abuses and announced that future leases at the county airport would bar operators from servicing deportation flights. The U.S. sued, saying the policy discriminated against the federal government and violated the terms of a World War II-era contract that guarantees the federal government’s right to use the airport. A federal judge agreed, the flights resumed last year, and on Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling.