Sanctuary policies on shaky ground after 9th Circuit upholds Trump's deportation plan

Sanctuary policies across the United States may be in jeopardy after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on Tuesday that the federal government holds the authority to deport illegal aliens even when local authorities object.

A panel of three judges unanimously sided with President-elect Donald Trump's administration in a lawsuit against King County, Washington, and county executive Dow Constantine.

'A huge win.'

At the center of the complaint was Constantine's April 2019 executive order that prohibited Boeing Field, the county's international airport, from being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to facilitate deportations.

The executive order highlighted the sanctuary county's commitment to shielding immigrants and refugees from federal immigration officials.

It read, "Effective policies have been put in place to guarantee that King County does not partner nor collaborate with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demonstrated by King County's refusal to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention detainers without a valid court order with regard to its correctional facilities."

The order stated that the county learned in 2018 that "aircraft operated by charter operators were providing services" to ICE and utilizing the airport "as a location for transportation of immigration detainees."

It called the practices "deeply troubling," claiming that it "could lead to human rights abuses."

As a result of Constantine's executive order, ICE relocated its operations, forcing the agency to increase its costs.

Trump's administration filed a lawsuit, arguing that the order violated the Supremacy Clause's intergovernmental immunity doctrine and the Instrument of Transfer agreement.

The district court previously sided with Trump, and King County moved to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit. However, the appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling.

The Ninth Circuit panel found that Trump's administration had "two related concrete and individualized injuries."

"The United States' inability to conduct the charter flights — which has increased ICE's operational costs — constituted a de facto injury that affected the United States in a particularized, individual way. The United States also faced an imminent risk of future injury from the Executive Order," the filing read.

The court found that the "injuries were fairly traceable" to Constantine's order, noting that ICE charter flights would likely have resumed in its absence.

The Ninth Circuit further held that the order "improperly regulated the way in which the federal government transported noncitizen detainees by preventing ICE from using private FBO [fixed base operator] contractors at Boeing Field, and on its face discriminated against the United States by singling out the federal government and its contractors for unfavorable treatment."

Tom Homan, Trump's incoming border czar, called the appeals court's rulings "a huge win" for the administration's mass deportation plan.

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