Officials look to ban deportation flights at county airport

SEATTLE – Officials are looking to block deportation flights carried out for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from an airport south of Seattle.

The Seattle Times reports King County Executive Dow Constantine signed an order Tuesday to eventually ban such flights at the King County International Airport.

According to a report by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights, about 34,000 people over the last eight years were sent on deportation flights at the airport.

The executive order directs county officials to rewrite future leases with the companies that rent airport space and provide services to charter flights used by ICE.

The new contracts would prohibit the companies from servicing flights that transport immigrant detainees.

ICE officials did not immediately comment on the county order.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com