In February the Department of Justice sued King County, WA to reopen Boeing Field in Seattle for deportation flights. Later that week, the UWCHR released a video explainer, produced by UW students and alumni, giving background on the ICE Air deportation flight network.

The advent of regular ICE Air deportation and detainee transfer flights via Yakima Air Terminal-McAllister Field has deepened Yakima’s role in immigration enforcement in the Pacific Northwest, but the flights build on prior infrastructure centered on the pipeline between Yakima County jail and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.