King County Hires Flight Monitor to Track ICE Flights at Boeing Field
King County has hired its first flight monitoring and outreach coordinator to track ICE flights at Boeing Field, a move aimed at ensuring compliance with safety regulations and transparency. The new role, which started recently after a month of training, is not exclusively focused on ICE flights but covers all commercial flights with more than 18 passengers or those involving buses taking passengers to and from planes.
The county has been criticized for its handling of ICE flights, with activists accusing officials of rarely engaging in meaningful oversight. In response, the county has created a website offering a video feed and log of immigration enforcement flights, including passenger counts, which were previously promised but not fulfilled until this month.
La Resistencia, an activist group opposing detention and deportation, has been monitoring ICE flights at Boeing Field using video feeds and has reported safety violations, including the fueling of planes while passengers are on board. The county plans to work with agencies or companies involved in these incidents to fix the problems rather than taking punitive action.