Free Republic

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to test detainees for COVID-19 before they are transferred to the immigrant detention center in Tacoma. The ruling grants a temporary restraining order requested by lawyers representing vulnerable detainees in a class-action suit. . . . . .The number of COVID-19 cases at the facility has climbed to more than 240 since June. ICE has flown over 1,000 detainees to Washington state since April.

Mayor Jenny Durkan has asked a federal judge to prevent a new City Council ordinance banning Seattle police from using most “crowd-control weapons” from taking effect later this month, saying it likely conflicts with the consent decree the city entered into with the Department of Justice (DOJ) nearly eight years ago. Documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court by the city say that the Department of Justice and the court-appointed monitor overseeing implementation of the consent decree have said the new law can’t take effect without the approval of U.S. District Judge James Robart. Durkan and police Chief Carmen Best...