XPost: alt.wildland.firefighting, alt.politics.immigration, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc
Immigration agents arrested two Mexican contractors helping to tackle a wildfire in Olympic National Forest in Washington, a supervisor who
oversees the crews said Thursday.
It was one of the first times federal immigration agents have been known
to enter a fire zone to carry out President Donald Trump's mass
deportation orders, veteran firefighters said.
Two work crews, totaling 44 people, were gathered at a staging site near
Lake Cushman around 9 a.m. Wednesday when federal agents appeared, crew
boss David Diaz said.
They were only about a mile from the Bear Gulch fire line and planned to
spend the day chopping lumber, Diaz said.
The cause of the fire, which started July 6, is still under
investigation. It has scorched nearly 9,000 acres and was 13% contained Thursday evening, according to the incident command team.
Twenty of the contract workers were Mexican, and all carried work visas
and passports, he said. But federal officials arrested two of them on
suspicion of being in the United States illegally.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement on social media that he was
"deeply concerned about this situation with two individuals helping to
fight fires in Washington state."
Diaz immediately recognized one of the black trucks that he had seen the previous week at Walmart, where his crew had gone to pick up supplies
after it arrived in Washington, he said. The truck followed him to a
hardware store and then to a gas station, he said.
“We saw the black truck literally do a U-turn right in front of us while we’re at the store.” he said. “We’ve just been followed the whole time.”
Videos recorded by Diaz and posted to social media appeared to show
Border Patrol agents detaining two crew members. Other videos show crew
members lined up side-by-side in front of Border Patrol agents.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the arrests followed a criminal investigation into the two contracting companies, Oregon-based Table Rock Forestry Inc. and Idaho-based ASI Arden
Solutions Inc. The Bureau of Land Management, which conducted the investigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and
CBP did not provide details.
The companies also did not respond to requests for comment.
BLM, which oversees 245 million acres of federal land, requested help
from the U.S. Border Patrol in verifying the identities of all work crew members, immigration officials said. One of the two who were arrested
had a previous order of removal on his record, they said.
Contracts with the two firefighting companies were terminated, according
to Customs and Border Protection.
“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,” the agency
said in its statement.
The enforcement action left a sour feeling among the crew members, Diaz
said. They were not allowed to say goodbye to the two men who were
arrested, and they were forced to stand around for about three hours
while the federal agents checked their records.
Diaz said all he could do was hand one of the detained men a mango cream
soda.
“With the private contractors, it’s hard for us to even sometimes go out
to a fire. I mean, we’re lucky enough if we even get this kind of work,”
he said, adding that once a crew member is deported, it is impossible to
get him back.
“There’s already a lack of resources,” he went on. “Wildfires could get out of hand, bigger than what anyone expects.”
Washington and Oregon increasingly rely on contract crews like Diaz’s
because of a federal firefighter shortage. Unlike California, which
invests heavily in a multiagency approach that includes state, local and federal resources, the Pacific Northwest contracts to private companies
to fill open slots on fire crews.
The situation leaves more room for error, said Steve Gutierrez, a union representative with the National Federation of Federal Employees.
“This wouldn’t happen with the Forest Service,” he said, which requires strict background checks, including citizenship status.
That it happened during an active fire, he said, was especially
concerning. Immigration enforcement actions do not usually occur near
fire lines, Diaz and Gutierrez said, and Wednesday could mark a new
chapter in how the Trump administration handles natural disasters.
Trump this year rescinded a Biden-era policy barring immigration
enforcement at so-called sensitive locations like schools and churches.
That also applied to natural disasters, but it appears to have changed
with the arrests Wednesday.
"This is the first time this has happened in all my 26 years" in
firefighting, Diaz said. "They could have done this in a more humane
way."
Obey the law, Diaz. If you don't like how the law is being enforced now
here, take a hike with the dearly deported - and don't come back.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-agents-arrest-fire-crew-memb ers-washington-wildfire-rcna227797
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