Lawyers have demanded the release of a longtime Oregon resident who was arrested by US border patrol while fighting a wildfire in Washington state, arguing that the detention was illegal and violated Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies. The man, who has not been named, was one of two firefighters taken into custody this week while working on the Bear Gulch fire in the Olympic National Forest.
The firefighter has lived in the US for 19 years after arriving with his family at the age of four. According to his legal representative, Stephen Manning of the Innovation Law Lab, he received a U-visa certification from the US attorney's office in Oregon in 2017 after assisting federal investigators with a crime against his family. He submitted his U-visa application the following year and has been awaiting a decision since then. Manning said DHS policy prohibits the detention of individuals who are receiving or have applied for victim-based immigration benefits.
US Customs and Border Protection said it was assisting the Bureau of Land Management with a criminal investigation into contractors at the fire site when it discovered the two men, whom they claim were in the country without permanent legal status. A senior DHS official later stated that the men were not active firefighters but were providing support by cutting logs for firewood, and that the arrest did not disrupt firefighting operations. The Bureau of Land Management declined to explain why it terminated contracts with two companies and escorted 42 firefighters away from the fire.
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, criticised the operation, saying the Trump administration was more focused on conducting raids on fire crews than protecting communities from catastrophic fires. He noted that firefighters put their lives on the line, referencing a recent fatality in Montana. “The last thing that wildland firefighter crews need is to be worried about masked individuals trampling their due process rights,” Wyden said.
As of Friday, the Bear Gulch fire had burned approximately 14 square miles (36 square km) and was only 13% contained, forcing evacuations. The number of personnel assigned to the blaze had dropped from 349 on Thursday to 303 on Friday, as efforts to contain the fire continued.
