United States Department of Justice Sues King County over Unlawful and Unconstitutional Restrictions on Use of Boeing Field

Spokane – The U.S. Department of Justice today filed suit in federal court against King County asking the Court to invalidate and enjoin a King County policy aimed at banning all immigration related flights at Boeing Field in Seattle.  In April 2019, King County announced the executive order designed to ban all deportation flights from the airfield.  Because ICE can no longer use Boeing Field, it has had to transport detainees to and from the Yakima airport via bus – a trip of 150 miles. 

“King County doesn’t get to pick and choose which federal laws it wants to follow,” said Brian T. Moran, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.  “The federal government transferred Boeing Field to the County in 1948 – and the agreement states that the federal government retains the right to use the field at no cost.  King County is violating the law, the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy clause, and the very agreement it signed to gain ownership of the airport.”

“The vast majority of people being deported from our state have previously committed crimes in this country that lead to their deportation,” said William D. Hyslop, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.  “We don’t refuse to send a criminal defendant to another state to face charges – neither should we fail to return illegal aliens to their country of origin if they have committed crimes that make them inadmissible to the United States and a danger to our communities.”

In order to continue the lawful transport of detainees both to and from the Northwest ICE Processing Center, ICE must subject them to a 150-mile bus trip to Yakima, increasing the cost and lengthening the trip for the detainees.

The litigation charges the restrictions placed on Boeing Field and the contractors that service aircraft there with violating the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), as well as the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, by obstructing and burdening federal activities.

The litigation in Western Washington was announced today by Attorney General William Barr in a speech to the nation’s Sheriffs.  In addition to the Boeing Field litigation, the Department of Justice filed suit in New Jersey seeking to invalidate laws preventing the sharing of information between state and local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.

The litigation is being handled by Michael J. Gerardi, a Trial Attorney with DOJ’s Federal Programs Branch, in consultation with Assistant United States Attorney Kristin B. Johnson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.

Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington is Communications Director Emily Langlie at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@usdoj.gov.