Seattle — Two firefighters who were part of a 44-person crew fighting a wildland blaze on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula were arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a multiagency criminal investigation into the two contractors they worked for, federal authorities said Thursday.
The arrests prompted Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, of Washington State, to call U.S. immigration policy “sick.”
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management asked the Border Patrol to help check the workers’ identities Wednesday when crews were working in a remote area, the Border Patrol said in a statement. Border Patrol agents found two workers who were in the U.S. illegally and arrested them, the ageny said.
Federal authorities didn’t provide information about the investigation into the contractors and didn’t immediately respond to questions seeking details about the criminal case.
The BLM terminated the contracts with Table Rock Forestry Inc. and ASI Arden Solutions Inc. — both from Oregon — and escorted the remaining 42 workers off federal land, the release said. The two arrested were taken to the Bellingham station on charges of illegal entry and reentry, the release added.
Email and phone messages left Thursday for the two businesses seeking comment weren’t immediately returned.
Initial reports saying firefighters had been arrested by federal agents sparked the outrage from Murray. Several firefighters who witnessed the incident had told The Seattle Times anonymously that federal agents had taken two firefighters into custody.
Murray responded to the news Thursday by saying the Trump administration has undercut wildland firefighting by “decimating the Forest Service” and their immigration policy “is fundamentally sick.”
Mariam Zuhaib / AP 
“Here in the Pacific Northwest, wildfires can, and have, burned entire towns to the ground,” she said in a statement. “This new Republican policy to detain firefighters on the job is as immoral as it is dangerous.”
She added that she is “demanding immediate answers from this administration about the circumstances of this incident, the whereabouts of the detained firefighters, and the administration’s current policy regarding immigration enforcement during active wildfires.”
Dennis Lawson, president of the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, told The Associated Press firefighters work as a team and losing a member for any reason hurts their ability to serve their communities.
The Border Patrol asserted that, “The contract termination and enforcement action did not interfere with firefighting operations or the response to any active fires in the area, nor did it pose any danger to the surrounding community.”
U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rosario Vasquez said in the statement that the effort highlights the coordination among federal agencies to ensure the integrity of government operations.
“U.S. Border Patrol steadfastly enforces the laws of the United States and unapologetically addresses violations of immigration law wherever they are encountered,” Vasquez said.
The crews were helping with the Bear Gulch Fire, which has burned about 14 square miles on the north side of Lake Cushman in the Olympic National Forest and National Park. It was 13% contained by Thursday afternoon.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, of Oregon, said in a post on X that one of the firefighters arrested was from his state and denounced the arrest, saying it makes communities less safe. The man is represented by lawyers with the nonprofit Innovation Law Lab, who said he was unlawfully detained and they haven’t been able to locate him.
“We demand that they allow him to access counsel as is his right afforded by the U.S. Constitution,” lawyer Rodrigo Fernandez-Ortega said in an email. “We have seen entire towns burned to the ground and it is outrageous that the U.S. border patrol unlawfully detained the brave individuals who are protecting us.”
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said he was “deeply concerned” about the news, adding that firefighters help keep communities safe. He said his team has reached out to the federal agencies to get more information and “to question why the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies now extend to individuals fighting forest fires.”
Jennifer Risdal, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service’s Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting efforts, said they were aware of the Border Patrol activities at the fire site, but offered no information about what happened.
During the first Trump administration, DHS issued a statement in the course of the 2020 wildfire season saying CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were concerned about the impact the fires could have on Western states and that their highest priority was “the preservation of life and safety.”
“In consideration of these circumstances, there will be no immigration enforcement initiatives associated with evacuations or sheltering related to the wildfires, except in the event of a serious public safety threat,” the statement said.
Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove, whose agency oversees Washington’s wildland firefighting efforts, said he was aware of the enforcement actions at the Bear Gulch Fire.
“While we don’t have all of the details yet, this is all occurring at a time when the Trump administration’s crude and inhumane approach to immigration enforcement has intentionally and unnecessarily stoked fear and mistrust among members of the public — including firefighters putting their lives on the line to protect our state,” he said.
