Body restraint with disputed safety record, known as the WRAP, thought to be used at the King County Airport during a deportation flight on Tuesday, October 17, 2023
SEATTLE, WA — On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, witnesses observing a deportation flight from King County International Airport saw 4-5 workers carrying a large object or person up the passenger boarding stairs, something that has not been observed in dozens of prior flights. When inquiring with the airport staff, witnesses were unable to receive any explanation, leading to concerns that it was someone restrained in the controversial WRAP device.
Deportation flights have resumed from King County Airport (KCA) since May of 2023, after a four-year pause following a federal judge’s decision overturning a 2019 King County executive order barring ICE from using the county airport. Since the return of the flights, members of the immigrant rights advocacy groups including La Resistencia, Tsuru for Solidarity, and Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Justice have monitored the deportation flights every week from a designated viewing room at Boeing Field, intending not only to witness, document, and publicize this part of the inhumane immigration enforcement system, but also to ensure people being taken into Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) or deported out to the infamous facility know there are efforts to support them and to end all deportations.
“Any form of full-body restraint has a high potential for misuse and abuse. It should never be used when other options are available, like delaying transit dates. Washington State and King County have a duty to monitor treatment of people detained against their will. Mistreatment and abusive treatment must never be allowed. Use of a full body restraint system presents just such a possibility. Who is responsible? When I worked in the hospital, nurses were required to do medical safety checks on a person in body restraints every 15 minutes. Who was conducting medical safety monitoring of the person while in restraints? And how often?,” said Stanley Shikuma with Tsuru for Solidarity and member of the volunteer group witnessing deportation flights.
The restraint device in question during these observations, known as the WRAP, is used by ICE and other law enforcement agencies claiming it can restrain a person without restricting breathing. However, the studies that originate these safety claims of the WRAP have been under investigation, and community groups have filed civil rights complaints to the Department of Homeland Security calling the devices a form of torture.
ICE records received by the UW Center for Human Rights in FOIA litigation reveal that the WRAP has been used at least once to restrain a person with mental illness during ground transportation from Oregon to Tacoma for detention at the Northwest Detention Center.
The potential use of the WRAP, combined with the secretive nature of our mostly privately-run the deportation pipeline making use of the King county airport, raise urgent concerns about what if any safety protocols are in place to ensure that county facilities are not sites of torture and abuse. It is the duty of our elected officials to ensure that the county’s commitment to immigrant rights is upheld on its property.
“ICE’s practice of forcibly separating families and removing people from our communities is another form of violence. The use of restraining devices during deportation flights is a clear expression of the escalation of this same violence against our people. Any company, public agency local, state or federal that has a hand on this, will be held accountable by our efforts to end all deportations from King County Airport,” said Wendy Pantoja, La Resistencia’s Director.
La Resistencia is calling for an immediate investigation by KCA airport authorities, KC Council and Executive, with an immediate delivery of findings to community groups monitoring deportation flights. The County should publicly denounce these inhumane practices and file a lawsuit against ICE for human rights violations against immigrants being deported in King County.
La Resistencia is a grassroots organization led by undocumented immigrants and people of color that have been oppressed by the immigration enforcement system. We are based in Washington State working to end the detention of immigrants and stop deportations.
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