Firefighter arrested at Bear Gulch blaze released from ICE detention in Washington

Isabella Breda, The Seattle Times on Sep 24, 2025

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SEATTLE — Oregon firefighter Rigoberto Hernandez was released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma this week and is back home, his attorneys say.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Hernandez and another wildland firefighter four weeks ago while they were working the Bear Gulch fire on the Olympic Peninsula. At the time, it was the largest wildfire burning in Washington.

In a statement after the arrests, Border Patrol said it had arrested the firefighters for being in the country illegally. Hernandez’s attorneys, at the Innovation Law Lab and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, filed a federal lawsuit Friday on behalf of Hernandez, seeking his release.

The attorneys argue that Hernandez was wrongfully arrested and that immigration authorities violated his constitutional rights. They say his arrest was made without a warrant, based on no information beyond Hernandez’s race and his invocation of his constitutional right to silence, according to the suit.

The attorneys say immigration officials concealed Hernandez’s whereabouts from his family and attorneys for 48 hours after his arrest.

“Federal agents are not above the law,” Rodrigo Fernandez-Ortega, staff attorney at Innovation Law Lab, said in a statement Wednesday. “ICE and Border Patrol are showing complete disregard for constitutionally protected rights and the rule of law.”

In a statement provided by his attorneys, Hernandez said he was excited to see his family and was glad to be home.

“I want to give my thanks to everyone — for their prayers, for the rallies, for sharing about what happened to me and the other firefighter. So many people stepped up to help, and now I want to help others just like they helped me,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez was brought to this country at 4 years old and was raised on the West Coast, as his parents, migrant farmworkers, traveled for work.

He had been waiting for a determination on his visa application for more than seven years due to massive backlogs in federal government processing, his attorneys say.

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—Seattle Times staff reporter Conrad Swanson contributed reporting.