Five fathers from Snohomish County families have been released after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a Labor Day weekend camping trip at Red Bridge Campground in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, KING 5 reports in its latest update. The men continue to fight their immigration cases, KING 5 said.
The men were taken from their tents around midnight on September 5. According to KING 5, FOX 13 Seattle and The Seattle Times, U.S. Forest Service rangers had approached the families during the day over a reported garbage or fire-danger issue, collected and photographed adult identification, and warned of possible mailed citations; hours later, after the group had gone to sleep around 10 p.m., agents shook the tents, identified themselves as police, and then revealed they were immigration agents.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the joint operation, the outlets reported. The men were taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. In a statement to Outside magazine shortly after the arrests, ICE said the five men were in the country without authorization or had violated the rules of their residency — that is ICE's claim; their individual cases remain pending. Earlier reporting noted that one man had been released on bond while the others remained detained as of early October; KING 5 now reports all five have been released.
Source: FOX 13 Seattle — Families speak after 5 men detained at WA campsite
The families, including children from ages 1 to 14 and one expectant mother, had gathered for what relatives described as their last camping trip of the summer, east of Granite Falls. Relatives described the nighttime operation as traumatizing, and said women and children were left in the dark with no cell service while the households scrambled for legal fees and living costs with their primary breadwinners held, KING 5 reported.
U.S. Representative Emily Randall and a dozen other members of Congress, including leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the House Natural Resources Committee, sent a letter to Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz demanding transparency about the operation — including which agency first identified the men and what agreements govern Forest Service cooperation with ICE — and set an October 15, 2026 deadline for answers, which the outlets reported passed without a response. DHS stated that Forest Service law enforcement officers do not enforce immigration law but collaborate with agencies that do, and the Forest Service confirmed routine work with federal partners on public lands.
Source: The Seattle Times — Camping arrests of WA immigrants spark questions from Congress members
Advocates and outdoor groups described the Red Bridge operation as one of the first known instances of immigration enforcement targeting campers on National Forest land. The release ends the five men's detention in Tacoma, but their immigration cases continue, and Congress's questions about how rangers' ID checks led to a midnight raid remain unanswered in the reporting.
What is solid
- Five Snohomish County fathers arrested at Red Bridge Campground on Sept. 5 have been released, and they continue to fight their immigration cases — KING 5 latest report, with the raid and detention previously reported by FOX 13 Seattle and The Seattle Times.
- DHS confirmed the joint operation and the men were held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma — KING 5, FOX 13 Seattle, The Seattle Times.
What is only claimed
- ICE said the men were in the country without authorization or had violated residency rules — that is the agency's claim, made to Outside after the arrests; the outcomes of their individual immigration cases have not been decided in the reporting.