'Fundamentally Sick': Trump Border Agents Arrest Two Firefighters Battling Washington Wildfire

Elected officials in Washington are among those expressing outrage after federal agents took two firefighters into custody as they were helping to combat a local wildfire.

As reported by The Seattle Times, two firefighters were arrested on Wednesday while helping to put out the fire at Bear Gulch, located in Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

Sources told the paper that the arrests came after federal agents working in the area demanded that the two private contractors who were fighting the fire provide identification information on all their crew members.

One firefighter who was on the scene expressed incredulity that federal officials would conduct an immigration raid on a group of people who have been trying to put out a fire that is spread out across thousands of acres and is still far from contained.

"You risked your life out here to save the community," the firefighter told The Seattle Times. "This is how they treat us."

Local news station KING 5 confirmed that the two firefighters were taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), although the specific reasons for the firefighters' detentions are still unknown.

Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said that he was "deeply concerned" about the two firefighters being taken into custody, and he said he has "directed my team to get more information about what happened."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) was far more critical and outraged in her reaction to the arrests.

"Trump’s ICE is arresting firefighters who are ACTIVELY FIGHTING ONE OF THE LARGEST WILDFIRES IN THE UNITED STATES," she wrote on social media. "There aren't words to describe this cruelty. It's absurd and completely against America's best interests."

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) described DHS's actions in detaining the firefighters as "fundamentally sick."

"Trump has wrongly detained lawful green card holders and even CITIZENS," she emphasized. "No one should assume this was necessary. These firefighters put their lives on the line for us ALL and Trump is detaining them."

Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration advocacy organization America's Voice, described the arrests of the firefighters as a sad reflection of President Donald Trump's immigration policies as a whole.

"Perhaps nothing captures President Trump and Stephen Miller's obsession with mass deportation and purging the nation of immigrants than the news that, quite literally, this administration is prioritizing detaining firefighters over fighting fires," said Cárdenas. "What a sad, screwed up reflection of this unhinged administration and the harm they are inflicting on America."

The Trump administration in recent weeks has expanded the scope of immigration enforcement actions to include raids on California farms and on Home Deport parking lots where day laborers frequently gather. This appears to be the first time they have targeted firefighting crews in the middle of trying to contain a blaze, however.