ICE Flights Continue At Yakima Air Terminal-McAllister Field

Immigration and custom enforcement or ICE flights continue at the Yakima Air Terminal-McAllister Field. In fact a flight picked up detainees on two buses Tuesday at the airport. They add to the more than 1,880 detainees that have flown from Yakima on weekly flights chartered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. All are either charged with a crime or have been through the criminal justice system and are being deported.

The protests against the flights continue at the airport as well. On Tuesday about 15 to 20 people were protesting the flight holding signs and blowing on whistles to get the attention of those boarding the planes. Some of the detainees waved and gave thumbs up to the protestors. The flight transported the detainees from Yakima to Las Vegas where they board planes to be deported out of the country.
Earlier this year some Yakima City Council members tried to stop the flights but a vote failed and the flights continue. One major concern was that if Yakima moved to stop the flights it could have impacted the amount of federal money coming to the Yakima airport. And while the vote to stop the flights failed the council did vote in favor of setting up a future meeting with city lobbyists to talk about the concerns of Yakima residents and about immigration reform in general. That meeting is expected to happen sometime this fall.