Rantz: Democrats cry over ‘firefighter’ arrest — ignore he’s a convicted meth dealer in U.S. illegally

Left-wing media outlets and Democrat lawmakers are demanding answers as to why two contractors supposedly helping to fight fires were arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Except they know the answers. They’re just unwilling to be honest with anyone asking the questions.

It took less than 24 hours for Democrats and their media allies to turn a convicted meth dealer into a sympathetic folk hero. Jose Bertin Cruz-Estrada wasn’t the brave firefighter left-wing outlets claimed he was. He wasn’t a victim of a cruel immigration system. He was an illegal immigrant with a decade-old order of removal, a drug trafficking conviction, and charges of lying about being a U.S. citizen. And he was working for a contractor under federal investigation. Yet, before the facts were even known, the outrage machine kicked in.

The narrative was set: U.S. Border Patrol agents supposedly stormed a wildfire site and ripped away a “firefighter” in the middle of saving lives. The Guardian framed it as if heartless agents “disrupted firefighting operations” by arresting men who were keeping the state safe. Cascade PBS leaned into conspiracy, suggesting this was about “management complicity” in some nefarious ICE raid. KGW and KING 5 focused on grieving family members and angry lawmakers, never pausing to ask the obvious: who is this man, and why did federal agents target him?

The truth came out days later — though you’d never know it if you relied on these outlets.

ICE rightly defends arrest

ICE told The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red 770 AM: “Washingtonians are safer today after U.S. Border Patrol arrested Jose Bertin Cruz-Estrada, a Mexican national, who has a final order of removal from 10 years ago. He has a conviction for delivery of methamphetamine and charges of falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen. This criminal alien will be in ICE custody until he can be prosecuted for illegal reentry, a felony violation of immigration law. Aliens who know they are in the U.S. without lawful immigration status should take the safest and most efficient option and self-deport.”

This is the man the media portrayed as a victim — a convicted meth dealer who illegally snuck back into the country.

And he wasn’t even actively fighting fires when arrested.

Customs and Border Protection confirmed it: “The contract termination and enforcement action did not interfere with firefighting operations or the response to any active fires in the area, nor did it pose any danger to the surrounding community.”

Arrest part of a bigger investigation media mostly ignores

In fact, Border Patrol agents were called in by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) because of serious concerns about fraud and contractor integrity.

According to CBP, “Contracts with Table Rock Forestry Inc. and ASI Arden Solutions Inc. were terminated following the conclusion of a criminal investigation by BLM.” When agents checked rosters at the remote work site, they found discrepancies and discovered two illegal immigrants — including Cruz-Estrada, who had already been deported once. Out of 44 workers, 42 were released, and operations moved on.

This wasn’t a “raid on firefighters.” It was an enforcement action against fraud and illegal entry. But that didn’t stop Washington Democrats from grandstanding.

Democrats’ grandstand

Rep. Emily Randall showed up at an ICE facility in Tacoma, desperate for a photo op, and then whined to KING 5 that she wasn’t allowed entry. She and others spun the arrest into an attack on immigrants and workers, all while ignoring the meth conviction, the fake citizenship claim, and the criminal reentry.

It’s a playbook we’ve seen before: rush to frame ICE as the villain, count on the media to amplify the sob stories, and never correct the record when the truth comes out. Cruz-Estrada is not the poster child for sympathy. He’s exactly the kind of dangerous criminal alien ICE is supposed to remove.

What’s most galling is the indifference to his victims. Meth destroys lives and communities. Yet Democrats and their media allies would rather cry over the inconvenience of one drug dealer’s arrest than acknowledge the destruction he caused or the laws he repeatedly broke.

The left pretends to care about “rule of law,” declaring that “no one is above the law”— unless immigration laws and illegal immigrants are involved. Then, law enforcement becomes the enemy, and criminals become martyrs. That’s why they scrambled to turn Cruz-Estrada into a hero.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on Seattle Red on 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

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