ICE flights out of Seattle's Boeing Field have gone up significantly, activists say

Kai Uyehara, The Seattle Times on Jul 15, 2025

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The number of flights coordinated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of King County International Airport has gone up significantly in recent months, according to a report from La Resistencia released Tuesday.

Yet the efforts to track the number of flights have been shrouded by a lack of transparency from the county and secretive techniques from flight operators, the report said.

The Washington-based immigration advocacy group has been tracking suspected ICE flights coming in and out of the Boeing Field, through a camera feed of the runway from a separate room. The group noted 42 flights carrying people in chains have gone through the King County airport in 2025 so far, compared to 52 in the entirety of 2024.

In 2025, the group observed more than 1,300 people from the Northwest ICE Detention Center in Tacoma boarding flights at the King County airport, the report said. The group had observed more than 1,200 people from the detention center boarding flights in 2024.

Those flights include not just deportations but also transport of detainees between facilities along with fuel stops and return trips from deportations, according to the report.

President Donald Trump has made it a central pillar of his presidency to arrest immigrants living in the U.S. without permission, even deporting some to countries they have no roots in. ICE raids have swept up people throughout the country, prompting outcry from immigration rights advocates. The Northwest ICE Processing Center has neared capacity.

As deportations have ramped up, the report said ICE starting in April began hiding its flights on commercial flight-tracking apps like FlightAware and Flightradar24 by using “dummy” call signs and unlisting their tail numbers to mask the airline being used.

La Resistencia said the airport has also obscured the organization’s ability to track ICE flights, despite King County's 2023 executive order to create a way for community members to have “increased transparency” about potential deportation flights.

The executive order came as King County tried to block ICE from using Boeing Field to conduct deportation flights. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December 2024 that the county had overstepped its power, clearing the way for ICE flights to resume at the King County airport.

Multiple flights have been missing from a monthly log maintained by the county that recorded all ICE activity at the airport, La Resistencia said. The group also said the county has never provided the number of immigrants on the flight like they’re supposed to under the executive order.

The camera feed has been unreliable, and the airport has denied its knowledge as to which flights are coordinated by ICE, La Resistencia said. The group said the airport officials must have been aware of some ICE flights at Boeing Fields, given emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act that showed one of the contractors notifying them about those flights.,

The county did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Acting King County Executive Shannon Braddock told KING5 that she shares concerns about those flights.

King County previously sought to stop these flights with a 2018 executive order that was ultimately struck down by federal courts, Braddock told KING5 in a statement. "As a public airport, we are legally obligated to allow chartered ICE flights to land and take off. All support and services for these flights are provided by a privately owned fixed base operator. Air traffic control is managed by federal FAA employees, not King County staff."

La Resistencia also recorded numerous instances it called “human rights abuses and mistreatment,” as its members watched people coming on and off ICE flights shackled in chains attached to their wrists, waist and ankles, the organization said. At least two people were restrained with “the wrap,” a full-body restraint similar to a straitjacket.

“This is the largest mass transport program of people in chains since the end of the slave trade,” said Stan Shikuma, a volunteer with La Resistencia, as the group announced its report on the doorstep of the King County International Airport on Tuesday.

A plane that had just transported 15 possible ICE detainees was still on the tarmac as the group announced its report, Shikuma said.

People were transported without the appropriate clothing to deal with various weather conditions, while being made to wait up to a half hour outside of the plane, La Resistencia said in the report. The report said a woman with a walker waited at the bottom of the stairs for 30 minutes as others were unloaded from the plane.

La Resistencia called for King County and the airport to improve their transparency and private airline charters to end their relationship with ICE.

“We need to put a stop to this,” Shikuma said. “We need to tell the people who can make those decisions that this is not acceptable, this is inhumane. This is not going to happen on our watch.”

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