SEATTLE (AP) — Two firefighters were taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a multi-agency criminal investigation into two contractors who had provided a 44-person crew to help fight a wildland blaze on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, federal authorities said Thursday.

The Bureau of Land Management asked the Border Patrol to help check the workers’ identities Wednesday when crews were working in a remote area, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement. Border Patrol agents found two workers who were in the U.S. illegally and detained them, the agencies said.

Federal authorities did not provide information about the investigation into the contractors, and did not immediately respond to questions seeking details about the crimi

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