An illegal immigrant names Jesper Joergensen was arrested on Saturday on charges of starting a Colorado forest fire that has scorched nearly 40,000 acres in the southern part of the state. Jeorgensen, a Denmark native who is not a legal resident of the United States, will reportedly be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he has been charged with arson in the Costilla County case.
The fire started on June 27, according to CNN, and as forced more than 800 families to abandon their homes as a result of mandatory evacuations.
“Complete annihilation,” La Veta, Colorado resident Matt Booth told KCNC. “Just total devastation beyond anything I thought there would be. Before it was all wooded and when you looked around, you could see the forest. Now you can just look through as far as you can see because there’s nothing left.”
Few details are known about Joergensen, 52, but the Costilla County Sheriff’s Department provided some preliminary information in a Facebook post.
“This initial cause of the fire was human caused,” confirmed police. “The investigation was led by our office with the assistance of CBI, State arson investigators, CSP, and Immigration and Customs agents. Jesper Joergensen, 52, was arrested without incident by Costilla County deputies. Jesper is being held on Arson charges. The investigation is still on going so information on this matter is limited.”
According to Heavy.com, Joergensen was intensely interested in anti-government, anti-Jew propaganda, and wrote frequently about both on social media.
It’s not clear if Joergensen had overstayed his visa or had actually traveled to the United States in an illegal fashion as of press time, but his arson charge will certainly make him a prime candidate for deportation regardless of how he originally got here. We’re guessing that neither Republicans nor Democrats will go out of their way to spotlight Mr. Joergensen the next time they tell voters what a great thing immigration is for the U.S.
