Border Patrol agents conducted an operation at the site of Washington state’s biggest wildfire this week , and a Washington congresswoman’s office confirmed two firefighters were arrested at the site where first responders are working to contain the blaze that’s already torched almost 9,000 acres in the Olympic National Forest.
Officials handling the Bear Gulch Fire in northwest Washington said in a short statement Thursday they “are aware of a Border Patrol operation here.”
“The Border Patrol operation is not interfering with firefighting activity and Bear Gulch firefighters continue to make progress on the fire,” the statement continued.
Citing two unnamed firefighters at the scene, The Seattle Times reported two people working on the fire Wednesday were arrested during the Border Patrol operation, though it was unclear why the firefighters were detained. The newspaper said the firefighters spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from federal agencies.
Washington Rep. Emily Randall’s office confirmed the arrests in an email to CNN.
The Border Patrol operation comes as President Donald Trump has cracked down on immigration across the country. In the first seven months of his second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported nearly 200,000 people, CNN previously reported – putting the federal agency on track for its highest rate of removals in at least a decade but still short of the administration’s stated deportation target of 1 million deportations a year.
CNN has reached out to Customs and Border Control and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
The human-caused wildfire on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula has been burning since July 6 and was just 13% contained as of Thursday. A red flag warning will remain in effect until 9 p.m. local time Thursday, and thunderstorms and gusty winds could worsen firefighting conditions.
Firefighters are battling the flames following intense heat waves in Western Washington that have spiked temperatures as much as 20 degrees above normal and stretched for days at least twice in August.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray demanded answers from the federal government about the circumstances of the incident in a statement Thursday.
“Trump has undercut our wildland firefighting abilities in more ways than one—from decimating the Forest Service and pushing out thousands of critical support staff, to now apparently detaining firefighters on the job,” she said in a statement. “This administration’s immigration policy is fundamentally sick. Trump has wrongfully detained everyone from lawful green card holders to American citizens—no one should assume this was necessary or appropriate.”
Under the Biden administration, the Department of Homeland Security said it would not conduct immigration enforcement “at locations where disaster and emergency response and relief is being provided” such as evacuation routes or areas where emergency supplies are being distributed.
Under Donald Trump’s first presidential administration, as wildfires ripped through northern California and burned over 300,000 acres in 2018, DHS said it would “suspend routine immigration enforcement operations in the areas affected by the fires,” except if a serious criminal presented a public safety threat. The agency also said it wouldn’t conduct any operations at evacuation sites or assistance centers. It is unclear if that stance has changed under Trump’s second administration.
CNN’s Mary Gilbert contributed to this report.
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