Deportation flights at WA airport up dramatically this year, advocates say

More migrants were flown out of King County’s Boeing Field during the first six months of this year than all of last year as the Trump administration has moved to drastically ramp up deportations.

That’s according to activists who hosted a press conference Tuesday outside the county-owned airport in south Seattle, where they also complained of increased obstacles from the county that hinder their efforts to observe and document the flights.

Through June 30, the advocates witnessed 42 immigration flights arrive in Washington this year, said Stan Shikuma, of the Japanese-American organization Tsuru for Solidarity. Three of those flights went to Yakima, not Boeing Field. Advocates couldn’t observe two of the Boeing Field flights, one because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made it harder to track its flights and another because it arrived close to midnight.

All of last year, 52 so-called “ICE Air” flights came into Washington. Those planes picked up at least 1,222 people transferred from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma before likely deportation, according to the advocacy group La Resistencia, which has called for the detention center’s closure. That doesn’t include a few flights volunteers couldn’t observe, and others they may not know about entirely.

Through six months this year, more migrants have already flown from Boeing Field, a total of 1,342, said Shikuma. And 913 people were brought in to be detained at the detention center. The facility, run by the for-profit GEO Group has long faced scrutiny over alleged human rights violations that have received renewed attention as President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign has reportedly strained capacity there.

This month, another five flights have passed through Boeing Field, officially known as King County International Airport. That includes a flight Tuesday morning from which 15 detainees disembarked and 13 boarded, Shikuma said.

All the migrants are shackled at their wrists, waists and ankles, said Shikuma. They use stairs to get on or off the planes.

“What we’ve observed, as we’re watching these flights come in and out, are people in chains being taken off the buses from the Northwest Detention Center. They’re patted down, head to toe, mouths examined, sometimes the chains are tightened before they’re allowed to board the plane,” he said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Then, people coming off the plane, same procedure.”

Volunteer observers have also occasionally witnessed detainees held in a full-body restraint called a “Wrap” that is similar to a straitjacket, including in the past week.

The issue of Boeing Field being used for immigration flights has long been a concern.

Transparency concerns

Then-King County Executive Dow Constantine signed an executive order in 2023 committing to not using discretionary resources to support ICE operations. He also ordered the county to publish monthly data on the flights and how many migrants are on them.

But La Resistencia says these logs sometimes provide incomplete lists of the flights and have never included the number of detainees.

“Why can’t the county keep the promises it made in its executive order in 2023 which is a commitment to A, transparency about the flights which they are not delivering, and B, advocacy for more humane solutions, which also I’m unaware of their action,” said Angelina Godoy, who has researched ICE Air extensively as the director of the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights.

In a statement, the county said Executive Shannon Braddock “remains committed to transparency, protecting vulnerable communities, and holding federal immigration operations accountable to the values of King County residents while complying with state and federal law.”

Since 2023, volunteers from La Resistencia and Tsuru for Solidarity have frequently sat around a conference table with live video feeds as immigration flights from the private charter airlines arrive at and depart the airport.

The airlines include GlobalX, Eastern and, more recently, Avelo.

The volunteers count one by one as detainees walk down the plane’s steps, and look for anything out of the ordinary: people restrained in unique ways or who look particularly young, for example.

Another group sometimes watches from a fenceline near the planes, which are serviced by Signature Aviation in Seattle.

Signature, with an office next door to the main terminal, is “profiting from this business,” Godoy said.

“They lease property from King County. So yes, King County does not have any contract with ICE. King County does not profit from deportation flights. King County makes money from Signature’s rent,” she continued.

After leaving the planes, people are loaded on buses and taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center. The center has been a local flashpoint for frustrations over Trump’s increased immigration enforcement.

In one instance in early February, activists counted 110 detainees getting off a flight. The biggest flight La Resistencia said it had observed up to that point carried half as many people.

A county spokesperson pointed to a lack of information shared by Signature Aviation to explain its incomplete data.

“ICE has no obligation to provide information about its flights to KCIA,” spokesperson Barbara Ramey said in an email, referring to King County International Airport. “Signature is not required to notify KCIA of ICE flights. While Signature provides some basic information about some of the flights, the information is often inconsistent.”

It took years to get to the point where activists could directly observe the flights.

In 2019, Constantine looked to stop immigration flights at the airport through an executive order. The first Trump administration sued the county over the order. A federal judge sided with the federal government in 2023, and an appeals court upheld the ruling, allowing the feds to again use Boeing Field for deportation flights.

The county then offered the observation room and Constantine signed the 2023 executive order.

King County Council member Teresa Mosqueda said in a statement read by advocates that she plans “to follow up on these calls for action.”

“We must now ensure the executive order on transparency be upheld at the last backstop for families and communities who are relying on flight visibility and tracking,” Mosqueda said.

Signature Aviation didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. A King County spokesperson couldn’t respond by the Standard’s deadline.

This story was updated to add comment from King County.Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com.