Appeals court rules US can deport ille­gal immi­grants despite local objec­tions in win for incom­ing Trump admin

U.S. Immi­gra­tion and Cus­toms Enforce­ment (ICE) can con­tin­ue using a Seat­tle air­port for char­tered depor­ta­tion flights in a win for incom­ing Pres­i­dent-elect Trump’s admin­is­tra­tion, a fed­er­al appeals court ruled.

The 9th Cir­cuit Court of Appeals rul­ing reject­ed a 2019 local exec­u­tive order that sought to counter then-Pres­i­dent Trump’s immi­gra­tion poli­cies, say­ing that King Coun­ty, Wash­ing­ton vio­lat­ed its con­tract by pro­hibit­ing depor­ta­tions at King Coun­ty Inter­na­tion­al Air­port, which is also known as Boe­ing Field.

The court ruled that the order was unlaw­ful because it dis­crim­i­nat­ed against ICE and tar­get­ed fed­er­al oper­a­tions. In 2019, Trump used Boe­ing Fields to deport ille­gal migrants from the U.S. and the local coun­ty sought to block the pres­i­den­t’s removal oper­a­tions.

MIGRANT ACCUSED OF VIOLENT CRIMES ARRESTED BY ICE AFTER MASSACHUSETTS COURT REFUSED TO HONOR DETAINER

The order prompt­ed ICE to begin using an air­port in Yaki­ma, Wash­ing­ton — a much longer dri­ve from ICE’s North­west deten­tion cen­ter— for the depor­ta­tion flights.

“The relo­ca­tion increased oper­a­tional costs due to the greater dis­tance from ICE deten­tion facil­i­ties to the air­port. It also led to increased secu­ri­ty con­cerns,” the rul­ing not­ed.

READ THE RULING – APP USERS CLICK HERE

In response, a legal bat­tle with King Coun­ty ensued. The U.S. in 2020 sued the coun­ty, alleg­ing that it vio­lat­ed the terms of a World War II-era con­tract that guar­an­tees the fed­er­al government’s right to use the air­port along with dis­crim­i­nat­ing against ICE.

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

In a rul­ing on Fri­day, Nov. 30, 9th Cir­cuit Judge Daniel A. Bress upheld the court’s deci­sion. In the rul­ing, obtained by Fox News Dig­i­tal, he wrote that, “this is not a sit­u­a­tion in which King Coun­ty offi­cials are being con­script­ed into car­ry­ing out fed­er­al immi­gra­tion laws on the fed­er­al government’s behalf.”

“Instead, the Unit­ed States is ask­ing King Coun­ty, in its capac­i­ty as the own­er of a pub­lic air­port facil­i­ty, to lift a dis­crim­i­na­to­ry pro­hi­bi­tion on pri­vate par­ties’ abil­i­ty to engage in busi­ness with the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment that sup­ports fed­er­al immi­gra­tion efforts,” the rul­ing states.

The new order also calls for trans­paren­cy around any depor­ta­tion flights. 

The air­port now offers a con­fer­ence room where the pub­lic can observe depor­ta­tion flights on a video feed, and the coun­ty posts a log of depor­ta­tion flights from the air­port on its web­site.

The rul­ing is a win for the incom­ing Trump admin­is­tra­tion. The pres­i­dent-elect has vowed to ini­ti­ate depor­ta­tion efforts on his first day back in office.

His promise was cement­ed by his pick of “bor­der czar,” Tom Homan. 

“If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out all the way. We’re going to do it,’ Homan recent­ly said.

DENVER MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON SAYS TRUMP’S MASS MIGRANT DEPORTATIONS WILL CREATE ‘TIANANMEN SQUARE MOMENT’

Trump’s elec­tion has prompt­ed blue city offi­cials to voice their oppo­si­tion against Trump’s depor­ta­tion efforts. Den­ver May­or Mike John­ston said that he is pre­pared to go to jail in oppo­si­tion to Trump’s plans.

The gov­er­nors of Illi­nois, Ari­zona and Mass­a­chu­setts have said that they also won’t assist the admin­is­tra­tion in the oper­a­tion. 

In Illi­nois, Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov. JB Pritzk­er promised to uphold sanc­tu­ary sta­tus, bold­ly declar­ing, “If you come for my peo­ple, you come through me.”

Ari­zon­a’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov. Katie Hobbs said her state will not be help­ing in what she called a “mis­guid­ed” plan. 

“What I will unequiv­o­cal­ly say is that, as gov­er­nor, I will not tol­er­ate efforts that are part of mis­guid­ed poli­cies that harm our com­mu­ni­ties, that threat­en our com­mu­ni­ties, that ter­ror­ize our com­mu­ni­ties, and Ari­zona will not take part in those,” Hobbs said.

Mass­a­chu­setts Gov. Mau­ra Healey insist­ed that Mass­a­chu­setts state police would “absolute­ly not” help the Trump admin­is­tra­tion’s planned depor­ta­tions.