Two firefighters from a 44-person crew fighting a wildland blaze on Washington's Olympic Peninsula were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a multiagency criminal investigation into the contractors they worked for. The Bureau of Land Management requested Border Patrol assistance to check workers' identities while crews were operating in a remote area. Agents detained two workers found to be in the U.S. illegally. The BLM terminated contracts with Table Rock Forestry Inc. and ASI Arden Solutions Inc. and escorted the remaining 42 workers off federal land. The arrested individuals were taken to Bellingham on charges of illegal entry and reentry. Federal authorities provided limited details about the investigation, and the two businesses did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Senator Patty Murray publicly condemned the detentions and criticized administration policies affecting wildland firefighting and immigration enforcement.
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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol said in a statement. Border Patrol agents found two workers who were in the U.S. illegally and detained them, the agencies said. Federal authorities did not provide information about the investigation into the contractors, and they did not immediately respond to questions seeking details about the criminal case.
Murray responded to the news on Thursday by saying the Trump administration has undercut wildland firefighting by "decimating the Forest Service" and their immigration policy "is fundamentally sick." "Here in the Pacific Northwest, wildfires can, and have, burned entire towns to the ground," the Democrat said in a statement. "This new Republican policy to detain firefighters on the job is as immoral as it is dangerous."
#wildland-firefighting #immigration-enforcement #bureau-of-land-management #contractor-investigation
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