U.S. Border Patrol arrests 2 firefighters for being in the country illegally as they battled Washington’s biggest wildfire

Satellite view of the Bear Gulch Fire shows a dense smoke plume over Mason County, Washington, as crews battle the wildfire that's burned almost 9,000 acres in Olympic National Forest and Park. (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested two firefighters Wednesday – who they say were in the United States illegally – while they were working to contain Washington state’s biggest wildfire.

The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service had requested support from a local Border Patrol station as the agencies terminated work contracts with two firms on the Olympic Peninsula, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Without offering details, the agency said the contracts were ended following the conclusion of a criminal investigation by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Bear Gulch Fire on the peninsula has already torched almost 9,000 acres in the Olympic National Forest.

The Bureau of Land Management requested that Border Patrol verify the identities of all the personnel present “due to the remote location of the work site,” the release states.

“Several discrepancies were identified, and two individuals were found to be present in the United States illegally, one with a previous order of removal,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

CBP said the two people were arrested and taken to Bellingham Station near the Canadian border.

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.

The Seattle Times was first to report the arrests.

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.

“This cooperative effort highlights the coordination between federal agencies in ensuring the integrity of government operations and maintaining public trust in fiduciary matters,” U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rosario P. Vasquez said in a statement. “U.S. Border Patrol steadfastly enforces the laws of the United States and unapologetically addresses violations of immigration law wherever they are encountered.”

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 Gov. Bob Ferguson said he is “deeply concerned” about the arrests.

“I have asked my team to reach out to federal agencies for more information, to determine where these two individuals are, and to question why the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration policies now extend to individuals fighting forest fires,” Ferguson said in a statement to CNN.

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.

By Celina Tebor, CNN

CNN’s Mary Gilbert contributed to this report.