Federal immigration agents collared a Jamaican national who managed to get himself hired as a cop in Maine — despite being in the country illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday.
Jamaican migrant Jon Luke Evans, who was employed as a reserve police officer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, illegally attempted to buy a gun. He was arrested in Biddeford on Friday, according to ICE.
ICE said Evans was also issued a gun by the police department.
The fact that a police department would hire an illegal alien and unlawfully issue him a firearm while on duty would be comical if it weren’t so tragic,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said.
We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien threats from our New England communities,” Hyde added.
While Evans entered the US legally by flying into the Miami National Airport on Sept. 24, 2023, he overstayed his visa by nearly two years, ICE said. He was supposed to leave on October 1, 2023, but never did.Evans joined the police force in May as a seasonal officer, the Old Orchard Beach Police Department told Fox News Digital. As part of his hiring process, Evans underwent a background check, physical and medical screenings and law enforcement training.
The department also sent his employment documents to the Department of Homeland Security to confirm Evans’ eligibility to work in the US, the department said.
DHS said Evans had an eligible work permit that would expire in March 2030, according to the police department.
Our department and our community relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program to ensure we were meeting our obligations,” Police Chief Elise Chard told Fox News Digital. “We are distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government.”
Evans’ role as a reserve officer prevented him from taking department-issued firearms home or carrying his own weapons on the job, according to Fox News Digital.
And Evans’ arrest wasn’t the first case of ICE hunting down an illegal immigrant who was employed as a police officer in Maine, which is one of roughly a dozen states that allow immigrants who have work permits to serve as cops.
