King County hires full-time staffer to spy on federal immigration operations at Seattle-area airport

According to Fox 13, the new "Flight Monitoring and Outreach Coordinator" works 40 hours per week observing charter operations, counting immigration detainees boarding and leaving aircraft, monitoring ground operations for potential airport rule violations, and helping maintain flight information made available to the public.

The position was created following years of organized pressure from immigration activists and a 2026 executive order from King County Executive Girmay Zahilay reaffirming and expanding the county's ICE flight transparency program.

The monitoring program is the latest chapter in King County's years-long effort to oppose ICE deportation operations at King County International Airport, commonly known as Boeing Field.

In 2019, then-King County Executive Dow Constantine issued an executive order seeking to prevent fixed-base operators at Boeing Field from servicing ICE charter flights. The three fixed-base operators subsequently stopped servicing the flights, forcing ICE to move its operations to Yakima.

The federal government sued King County in 2020. A federal district court ruled against the county in March 2023, finding that its restrictions unlawfully discriminated against the federal government.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the judgment in November 2024, concluding that the policy violated the federal government's intergovernmental immunity and conflicted with the 1948 agreement under which Boeing Field was transferred back to King County.

The Ninth Circuit noted that moving the flights to Yakima increased costs to the federal government because detainees had to be transported farther from ICE's detention facility in Tacoma and created additional security concerns.

After losing in federal court, Constantine issued a replacement executive order in 2023 acknowledging that the county could no longer enforce its previous restrictions while reiterating King County's opposition to federal deportation operations at Boeing Field.

"As a matter of principle, King County remains firmly opposed to the use of KCIA by the federal government or its contractors for the deportation and transportation of immigrant detainees," the 2023 executive order states.

Rather than attempting to block the flights, the new order directed county agencies to develop systems to "track and document" ICE's use of Boeing Field and make information about the operations publicly available.

ICE flights returned to Boeing Field in May 2023. The monitoring program was expanded again after Zahilay became King County Executive. In a February 2026 executive order, Zahilay expressly reaffirmed the county's existing ICE flight transparency policy and directed Boeing Field to work with King County Information Technology to upgrade and install additional security cameras to provide greater public visibility of the operations.

Zahilay also ordered airport officials to develop a plan for an improved public observation area that would be available throughout airport operating hours.

King County now maintains an official ICE flight webpage stating that, "By order of the King County Executive in 2023, and reaffirmed in 2026," Boeing Field maintains a log of federal ICE flights arriving at or departing from the airport. The county also operates four 24-hour livestream cameras showing portions of the airfield, publishes flight data generally on a weekly basis, offers notifications about ICE flights, and directs members of the public to a flight-tracking service where individual aircraft can be followed in real time.

The county subsequently added a dedicated employee to the operation. The Flight Monitoring and Outreach Coordinator underwent approximately a month of training before beginning the job this summer. The position is not technically limited to ICE operations. County officials said the coordinator monitors other charter flights carrying more than 18 passengers or involving buses transporting passengers to and from aircraft. The position also includes broader community-outreach responsibilities for Boeing Field.

However, its creation followed sustained pressure from immigration activists seeking increased county scrutiny of ICE flights. According to KING 5, La Resistencia, a Tacoma-based immigration activist organization, has operated a "No Deportation Flights" campaign and used volunteer observers to monitor ICE operations at Boeing Field. On May 30, the organization held a protest at Boeing Field following what it described as months of attempts to get the King County Executive's Office and airport officials to address its concerns.

In July, La Resistencia released a report alleging its observers had documented detainees boarding aircraft while fueling operations were underway on several occasions, including flights in September 2025 and January and April 2026. King County airport regulations prohibit passenger loading or unloading during fuel handling, except for military operations and emergency medical transportation. That same month, airport officials confirmed they had hired an employee to monitor airport operations and that the worker was undergoing training.

The coordinator now observes operations both in person and through the airport's livestream cameras. According to the county's public data, 285 detainees moved through Boeing Field aboard five flights during the first weeks of August. The county's published passenger counts do not identify whether individual detainees have criminal convictions or provide their immigration histories.

ICE activity at Boeing Field has also increased. ICE-chartered aircraft that were arriving approximately once per week several years ago are now typically arriving about three times per week, generally on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to local reporting. On some days, two ICE aircraft have passed through the airport. Because the coordinator works 40 hours per week, the employee cannot personally observe every ICE operation.

King County also acknowledges that federal courts have sharply limited what local officials can do to interfere with ICE's use of Boeing Field.