By Patrick Whittle
Associated Press
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The chief of police in a resort town in Maine has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, whom the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May.
ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.
ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans had legally entered the U.S. in September 2023 and violated the terms of his admission by overstaying his visa. But Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said in her own Monday statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. in May of this year.
ICE and Chard presented different accounts of Evans’ employment by the town. Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030.
She said the department is “distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government” and will investigate to determine what steps it can take to ensure the town’s compliance in the future.
ICE said in a statement that Evans admitted to its officers that he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer with the town. That triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which coordinated with ICE to make the arrest, the agency said in a statement.
Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. in October 2023 but never boarded his departing flight, the statement says.
“We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien,” Patricia H. Hyde, the acting field office director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, said in a statement.
Maine is one of about a dozen states that allow noncitizen residents to work in law enforcement, Chard said. They are part-time, seasonal employees who are assigned a variety of tasks, including community policing and beach patrol by foot and bicycle, she said.
Associated Press
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The chief of police in a resort town in Maine has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, whom the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May.
ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency said Evans was illegally present in the U.S. and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.
ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans had legally entered the U.S. in September 2023 and violated the terms of his admission by overstaying his visa. But Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said in her own Monday statement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. in May of this year.
ICE and Chard presented different accounts of Evans’ employment by the town. Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030.
She said the department is “distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government” and will investigate to determine what steps it can take to ensure the town’s compliance in the future.
ICE said in a statement that Evans admitted to its officers that he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer with the town. That triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which coordinated with ICE to make the arrest, the agency said in a statement.
Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. in October 2023 but never boarded his departing flight, the statement says.
“We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien,” Patricia H. Hyde, the acting field office director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, said in a statement.
Maine is one of about a dozen states that allow noncitizen residents to work in law enforcement, Chard said. They are part-time, seasonal employees who are assigned a variety of tasks, including community policing and beach patrol by foot and bicycle, she said.
