Forest Service Rangers Accompany ICE in Arrest of Five Men Camping With Their Families in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

On Sept. 5, 2026, Forest Service rangers accompanied ICE officers in the arrest of five men at a campsite off the Mountain Loop Highway in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where they were camping with their families. DHS confirmed ICE carried out the arrests. The Forest Service said in a statement that its officers do not enforce immigration law but “collaborate with agencies that do.” A family member’s account, as reported by the Seattle Times, is that rangers returned to the campsite more than once, first about trash and then demanding the adults’ IDs, and that armed agents and two rangers arrested the men after the families had gone to bed. The men were taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

A dozen members of Congress wrote to Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz demanding answers by Oct. 15, 2026. Eyes on ICE, a newsletter relaying KING5, later reported that the five had been released and that the Forest Service ignored the deadline; we have not read the KING5 report. The Seattle Times calls the arrests one of the first known immigration enforcement actions involving the Forest Service, and reports Forest Service participation in July arrests of 13 people in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest.