That morning, they were waiting for a taskforce leader to provide instructions, but Cruz-Estrada quickly realized the men arriving in trucks were not emergency responders.

They were US border patrol agents.

The armed officers surrounded the firefighters, directing them to line up while agents checked IDs. Officers “cleared” the crewmembers one-by-one until they got to Cruz-Estrada, 35, who they said was under arrest. The agents handcuffed him and another firefighter and drove the two away from the forest, where the fire was only 13% contained.