The Donald Trump administration is now actively running border patrol operations at active firefighting response sites. Two firefighters found out the hard way on Wednesday, Aug. 27, in Washington, where they were fighting the Bear Gulch fire on the Olympic Peninsula, when they were arrested by federal law enforcement.
There are currently 400 people on the frontlines in Washington battling the wildfire. The workers were originally hired by two private contractors, but on Wednesday morning, as they were setting up to fight the fires, border patrol agents were working beside them for three hours while checking the identifications of all the firefighters on site. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have already formed a reputation for conducting their operations in locations people find confusing, but this was particularly surprising because concern quickly arose about whether the operation disrupted the firefighting.
A spokesperson for the Incident Management Team leading the firefighting effort moved quickly to assure the public that there was no disruption. The spokesperson said the team was aware of a “Border Patrol operation” and insisted it did not affect the firefighting. As of Wednesday, the team had contained 13% of the fire across 9,000 acres that had already been engulfed.
Trump has been receiving very harsh criticism from his base, whom he promised that in enforcing his tough immigration laws, he would focus on individuals engaged in criminal activities. He has gone back on that word, though it was never clear whether he ever even intended to keep that promise, especially considering that his former ally Elon Musk tied Trump’s unending claims of election fraud to immigration by arguing that Democrats are flooding the country with immigrants to gain an edge in elections. Musk never provided any evidence.
Regardless, according to The Seattle Times, firefighters viewed this operation as an act of betrayal, considering they are risking their lives to protect the community. One firefighter said, “I asked them if his (family) can say goodbye to him because they’re family, and they’re just ripping them away. And this is what he said: ‘You need to get the (expletive) out of here. I’m gonna make you leave.’” Another firefighter added, “You risked your life out here to save the community. This is how they treat us.”
There is a deep sense among firefighters that their contribution to society should be respected, at least during their efforts on the frontlines. But now, when they arrive at work at 9:30 a.m., they are confronted by border patrol agents ready to search through their identification documents. The firefighters who spoke to the press followed the trend of federal employees hiding their names out of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.
Previously, during the Joe Biden administration, there was a policy preventing Border Patrol agents from conducting operations at natural disasters or emergency sites unless there was an “exigent circumstance.” It is unclear whether that policy was officially ended, but it is certainly no longer the modus operandi under the Trump administration.
