"Wildland firefighters were stunned when federal immigration authorities last week raided an active wildfire response in Washington state, arresting two firefighters and sidelining crews for hours. Wildfire veterans say the operation was nearly unprecedented, a breach in longstanding protocol that federal agents don't disrupt emergency responders to check immigration status. Worse, many wildfire veterans believe the management team overseeing the fire crews played a key role in handing over the firefighters to immigration authorities."
"Stateline spoke to nearly a dozen firefighters, agency staffers and contractors familiar with the incident, who shared their belief that the top officials assigned to the fire deployed the crews to a remote location under false pretenses so federal agents could check their immigration status. Most of them spoke privately for fear of retaliation. The raid has reverberated among fire crews, agency leaders and contractors."
Federal immigration authorities raided an active wildfire response in Washington, arresting two firefighters and sidelining crews for hours. Wildfire veterans called the operation nearly unprecedented and a breach of protocol because federal agents typically do not interrupt emergency responders to check immigration status. Many veterans believe the management team overseeing the response deployed crews to a remote location under false pretenses so agents could verify immigration status, and several people spoke privately for fear of retaliation. The arrests stoked fear and distrust among firefighters who now worry crews may be reluctant to deploy if they could face immigration raids.
Read at High Country News
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