All they want to do is to keep fighting fires on millions of acres of private, state and tribal-owned forestlands as part of Washington state's largest on-call fire department.
But the firefighting fates of Noe Vazquez and Christian Garcia Herrera, who have each fought more than 20 fires, are in limbo until the federal government reaches a deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, otherwise known as DACA.
On Tuesday in Olympia, Vazquez and Herrera, dressed in crisp, white shirts and skinny, black ties, held a press conference to put a face on the thousands of people who continue to be impacted by President Donald Trump's decision to end the DACA program last Fall.
“It’s sad to realize that if my DACA does get canceled I won’t be able to continue my dream of becoming a wildland firefighter,” Herrera said. “I wanna make a difference in the world some day.”