The lawyer said the firefighters arrested by U.S. border agents are on the right track for legal status. Oregon

Lawyer requests long-term release Oregon Residents were arrested by the Border Patrol while fighting wildfires in Washington State, said Friday that firefighters were already in legal status after helping federal investigators resolve crimes against his family.

The lawyer said his arrest was illegal and violated Department of Homeland Security policy, saying immigration enforcement should not be carried out where emergency responses occur.

He was one of two firefighters arrested this week while carrying out the Bear Gulch Fire at the Olympic National Forest, which had burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) as of Friday, with only 13% of people forcing the evacuation.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it had been helping the Land Administration conduct criminal investigations of two contractors working in the fire when they found two firefighters said they said they did not have permanent legal status in the country.

The firefighter, whose name is not yet published, lived in the United States for 19 years after arriving with his family at the age of four. He obtained U-VISA certification from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon in 2017 and filed a U-VISA application through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the following year.

Congress has established the U-VISA program to protect victims of serious crimes who assist federal investigators, and the man has been waiting for the Immigration Bureau to decide its application since 2018, Stephen Manning, a Portland-based nonprofit that represents firefighters.

Another homeland security policy says agents cannot detain those who are receiving or applying for immigration benefits for victims, his attorney said. Given his U-VISA identity, accusing the man of immigration violations was “an illegal reason afterward.”

His attorney said Friday they positioned him in the immigration detention system and were able to contact. They are still processing the information and ask him to post it immediately.

Two arrested people were not firefighters and did not actively put out the fire, senior DHS officials said in a statement to the Associated Press on Friday. Officials said they provide support roles by cutting logs into the firewood.

“The fire response has been uninterrupted,” the statement said. “There are no active firefighters even questioned, and the U.S. Border Patrol operations have not stopped or interfered with anyone actively engaged in firefighting.”

When the Land Administration was asked to provide information about why its contract with the two companies was terminated, 42 firefighters were escorted out of the state’s largest wildfire. It would just say it works with other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

“These law enforcement professionals have contributed to the broader federal law enforcement efforts by maintaining public safety, protecting natural resources and working with agencies such as the Border Patrol,” Home Affairs spokesman Alyse Sharpe told the Associated Press in an email.

Manning said in a letter to Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who was a Democratic Oregon, said the arrest violated homeland security policy.

Wyden criticized the Border Patrol action, saying the Trump administration is more concerned about raiding firefighters than protecting communities from catastrophic attacks. Wyden stressed that firefighters gave their lives, such as Oregon firefighters who fought wildfires in southwestern Montana on Sunday.

“The last thing a field firefighter crew needs is concerns about covering up individuals’ rights to trample on their due process,” Wyden said in an email to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, wildfire officials are still trying to control the bear canyon fire. The number of people working on the fire was listed in 303 on Friday, up from 349 on Thursday.