The Outdated Orchard Seaside Police division has vowed to research the arrest of the officer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated on July 28 that it arrested a reserve police officer who was illegally current in the USA after he allegedly tried to illegally buy a firearm in Maine.
Officers with ICE Enforcement and Removing Operations Boston, in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), arrested Jon Luke Evans on July 25 in Biddeford after his try to buy the firearm triggered an alert to ATF brokers.
ICE said in an announcement that on the time of his arrest, Evans, a Jamaican nationwide, was employed as a reserve police officer with the Outdated Orchard Seaside Police Division.
It stated that Evans admitted to ICE officers that he tried to buy the firearm for his employment.
The company stated Evans legally entered the USA in September 2023 on the Miami Worldwide Airport in Florida. It stated he violated the phrases of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa after failing to depart the nation in October 2023.
“Jon Luke Evans not solely broke U.S. immigration legislation, however he additionally illegally tried to buy a firearm. Shockingly, Evans was employed as a neighborhood legislation enforcement officer,” stated ICE ERO Boston performing Discipline Workplace Director Patricia H. Hyde. “The truth that a police division would rent an unlawful alien and unlawfully problem him a firearm whereas on responsibility could be comical if it weren’t so tragic.”
Hyde accused the Outdated Orchard Seaside Police Division of “knowingly breaking the very legislation they’re charged with implementing with a view to make use of an unlawful alien.”
“ICE Boston will proceed to prioritize public security by arresting and eradicating prison alien threats from our New England communities,” Hyde stated.
In a separate assertion on July 29, Outdated Orchard Seaside Police Chief Elise Chard said that Evans had acquired approval from the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) to work for the division as a summer time reserve officer in Could.
“As a part of the usual hiring course of by the City and the Police Division, Evans was required to finish an I-9 federal immigration and work authorization type to confirm that he was legally approved to work in the USA,” Chard stated.
Chard stated the city reviewed a number of types of identification earlier than hiring Evans, together with picture identification, and submitted his I-9 type to DHS’s E-Confirm Program, a web based system that permits employers to substantiate the eligibility of their workers to work legally in the USA.
DHS then verified that Evans was approved to work in the USA, in accordance with Chard.
Evans’s I-9 type was submitted and authorized by DHS on Could 12, 2025, she stated.
“Evans wouldn’t have been permitted to start work as a reserve officer till and until Homeland Safety verified his standing,” Chard stated. “The Police Division was notified that Evans was legally permitted to work within the U.S., and his I-766 Employment Authorization Doc was not set to run out till March 2030.”
Maine is amongst a handful of states that enable noncitizen residents to work in legislation enforcement, Chard stated.
Reserve officers obtain firearms coaching and are issued a firearm; nonetheless, they don’t seem to be allowed to carry a Division-issued firearm house with them and should hand their firearms into the division on the finish of every shift, she stated.
“Reserve officers will not be requested to, nor are they allowed to buy or carry some other firearms for the efficiency of their duties,” Chard famous.
Chard added that the police division “takes its authorized tasks very severely” and is “distressed and deeply involved about this obvious error on the a part of the federal authorities.”
She stated it plans to research Evans’s arrest “to find out what different steps we should always take transferring ahead to make sure our continued compliance with all relevant legal guidelines.”
It isn’t clear whether or not Evans has authorized illustration.
The Epoch Occasions has contacted a spokesperson for ICE for remark.
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