r/Firefighting • u/AngronOfTheTwelfth • 1d ago

General Discussion Border Patrol agents arrested firefighters fighting Washington wildfire after they asked the fire crew to line up to check their IDs.

Post image

What do we all think of this? Seems pretty nuts to me. They are actively getting in the way of wildlands guys as they do their job out there. I dont think this should be allowed or encouraged. Firefighting is a lot more important than .... risking 20 guys dressed exactly like firefighters crossing the Canadian border?

3.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

478 comments sorted by

View all comments

293

u/alliance501 1d ago

Is this really the best use of resources? Like even if one of them was here illegally, what harm are they doing to this country? Messed up priorities

9

u/wehrmann_tx 1d ago

What’s the legal standing here anyway? A cop can’t stop you for any reason. You don’t have to present ID unless they have a specific and articulable crime you’ve committed. Suspicion of not being a citizen isn’t one of them and it sure as hell doesn’t pass the specific part if they are stopping a group of people hoping to trap one. It’s already been held that you can’t be force to show ID for the specific purpose of checking citizenship.