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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Mandatory bicycle helmet law revoked in Seattle for racial equity



A law requiring Seattle bicyclists to wear helmets had been in effect for nearly 30 years, but was revoked in the name of racial equity. The King County Board of Health voted to repeal the helmet mandate because of accusations that the law was disproportionately enforced against people of color and homeless people.

In 1993, King County passed the law that requires all bicyclists to wear helmets. The law was expanded to explicitly include Seattle in 2003. The law was enacted to decrease the severity of bicycling incidents.

However, the community began noticing data that suggests black and homeless bicyclists were receiving more tickets than others.

"Seattle Police Department data collected and analyzed by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and the Helmet Law Working Group shows that police disproportionately gave helmet law citations to black, indigenous, and people of color cyclists," states the press release from the Public Health Insider for Seattle and King County.

"Their analysis found that black riders were nearly four times as likely to be cited by police for not wearing a helmet while biking compared to white riders," the analysis reads. "Further, in Seattle, nearly half of the citations issued for biking without a helmet were given to people living homeless."

Despite acknowledging that bike helmets "provide a 63-88% reduction in the risk of head and brain injuries for people who ride bikes," the King County Board of Health decided to revoke the safety law on Thursday by a vote of 11 to 2.

"Helmets save lives, full stop. But the disproportional enforcement of the requirement gives us concern," said King County Councilmember Joe McDermot. "When the Board of Health first adopted a helmet mandate, helmets weren’t part of our social norms and our culture, and so the legal requirements for helmets was new and carried weight. But I think societal norms and expectations have changed significantly in the 30 years since."

"The recent action from the Board of Health removes a policy that has resulted in racist enforcement, while re-emphasizing the importance of wearing a bike helmet coupled with County resources to make bike safety more accessible for all," said Dennis Worsham – interim director for Public Health in Seattle and King County.

Worsham noted that the repeal was in line with the Board of Health's 2020 "Racism is a Public Health Crisis" resolution that vowed to make the health agency a "vital player in dismantling oppressive systems that are grounded in white supremacy."

The board said it would pivot to other methods that don't rely on law enforcement, such as educational campaigns and free helmet distribution.

"The Metropolitan King County Council recently budgeted more than $200,000 to buy helmets and expand education," The Oregonian reported.

The repeal of the helmet mandate goes into effect in 30 days.

In January, the Seattle Police Department announced that it would no longer enforce certain non-criminal traffic violations due to racism and equity concerns. The Seattle Police de-prioritized expired vehicle registrations and bicycle helmet violations.