Border control agents apprehend firefighters on duty at a blaze in Washington state
In a surprising turn of events, federal immigration agents arrested two Mexican contractors working on a wildfire in Olympic National Forest, Washington. This marks one of the first times that federal immigration agents have entered a fire zone to carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation orders.
The wildfire, which started on July 6, has scorched nearly 9,000 acres and was 13% contained as of Thursday evening. The enforcement action did not interfere with firefighting operations or the response to any active fires in the area.
The arrests occurred at a staging site near Lake Cushman around 9 a.m. Wednesday. The authority that issued the arrest order for the two Mexican workers was the U.S. Forest Service.
Twenty of the contract workers were Mexican and all carried work visas and passports. However, one of the two arrested workers had a previous order of removal on his record. The arrests followed a criminal investigation into the two contracting companies, Oregon-based Table Rock Forestry Inc. and Idaho-based ASI Arden Solutions Inc.
Gov. Bob Ferguson expressed concern about the situation, and the enforcement action left a sour feeling among the crew members. They were not allowed to say goodbye to the two men who were arrested.
Washington and Oregon increasingly rely on contract crews because of a federal firefighter shortage. Unlike California, the Pacific Northwest contracts to private companies to fill open slots on fire crews. The contracts with the two firefighting companies were terminated by Customs and Border Protection.
In a related development, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organisation requested help from the U.S. Border Patrol in verifying the identities of all work crew members. It is unclear whether this request was made in connection with the recent arrests.
Trump this year rescinded a Biden-era policy barring immigration enforcement at natural disasters, which could mark a new chapter in how the Trump administration handles natural disasters. The implications of this policy change remain to be seen.
Videos recorded by a crew boss appear to show Border Patrol agents detaining two crew members. The cause of the wildfire is still under investigation.
