Seattle (AP). Lawyers are demanding a longtime Oregon resident arrested by Border Patrol in the fight against Washington State Fire, saying on Friday that the firefighter had already followed legal status after helping federal investigators resolve the crime against their family.
His arrest was illegal, the lawyers said and violated the Homeland Security Department’s policy, claiming that ensuring the implementation of immigration should not be carried out in places where emergency answers are taking place.
He is one of two firefighters arrested this week with the Bear Gulch Fire Olympic National Forest, which burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) and was only 13%since Friday, so only 13%.
The US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Thursday that it had helped the Land Management Bureau to conduct a criminal investigation into two fire contractors when they discovered two firefighters who said they were in the country without a permanent legal status.
The firefighter, whose name was not made public, lived in the US 19 years after he arrived with his family at the age of 4. He received a U-all certificate from the US law firm Oregon in 2017. And 2017 Submitted an U-all application with US citizenship and immigration services next year.
The U-VISA program was founded by Congress to protect serious crimes to help federal investigators, victims. Waiting for the Immigration Agency to decide on his request, says Stephen Manning, a non -profit organization lawyer representing a firefighter in Portland.
Another homeland security policy says that agents cannot detain people who receive or submitted an application for immigration benefits, his lawyer said. A man’s taxation by impairing immigration was “unlawful justification under the facts”, taking into account his U-all status.
His lawyers said on Friday that they had set him in the immigration detention system and were able to connect. They still processed the information and demand it immediately, they said the AP email. In the letter.
A senior DHS officer on Friday in AP stated that both arrested men were not firefighters and were actively fighting the fire. Officials said they were a supportive role by cutting logs into firewood.
“The fire extinguishing response has remained continuously,” the report said. “No active firefighters were even questioned, and the US border patrol actions did not interfere and did not interfere with any staff actively engaged in fire extinguishing efforts.”
When the Land Management Bureau was asked to provide information on why its contracts with two companies were terminated and 42 firefighters were escorted from the largest fire, it decreased. It would only say that she cooperates with other federal agencies, including the Homeland Security Department.
“These law enforcement specialists contribute to the broader efforts of the federal execution, maintaining public safety, protecting natural resources and cooperation with agencies such as border patrol,” In a letter to Associated Press, the Interior spokesman Alice Sharpe told.
Manning in a letter to Oregon’s elder Ron Wyden, a democrat that the arrest violated the Homeland Security Policy.
Wyden critically evaluated the border patrol operation, saying that President Donald Trump’s administration is more concerned with raids against firefighters rather than protecting communities from catastrophic fires. Firefighters postponed their lives on the line, emphasized by Wyden, such as the Oregon Firefighter, who died on Sunday, fighting a fire in Southwest Montana.
“The last thing you need for Wildland firefighters is to worry about disguised people who have trapped their right process rights,” Wyden said in an email.
Meanwhile, fire officers were still trying to control Bear Gullch Fire. The number of Blaze employees on Friday was 303 compared to 349 on Thursday.