Police In Maine Say Officer Arrested By Ice Was Cleared By Federal Government To Work

A constabulary section successful a Maine edifice municipality said that a reserve serviceman who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement past week received support from nan national authorities to activity for nan section successful May.

ICE accused nan constabulary section of “knowingly” hiring an migrant who is successful nan state illegally, which nan constabulary main denies.

ICE arrested Jon Luke Evans, a summer reserve serviceman pinch nan Old Orchard Beach Police Department, connected Friday, according to a connection from nan agency released Monday.

The agency said that Evans had unlawfully attempted to acquisition a firearm, triggering an alert pinch nan Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which worked pinch ICE to make nan arrest.

ICE said that Evans is simply a Jamaican national who lawfully entered nan U.S. connected a visa connected Sept. 24, 2023, and he was expected to depart connected Oct. 1, 2023, but ne'er boarded his flight, overstaying his visa. It was not instantly clear if Evans had an attorney.

The Old Orchard Beach Police Department said successful a connection connected Monday that arsenic portion of its modular hiring process, Evans completed an I-9 national migration and activity authorization shape to verify that he was legally capable to activity successful nan U.S.

Police Chief Elise Chard said successful nan connection that nan municipality reviewed aggregate forms of recognition and submitted nan forms for Evans to nan Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. The strategy is operated by nan Department of Homeland Security successful business pinch nan Social Security Administration to fto employers cognize if a prospective worker has ineligible authorization to activity successful nan U.S.

“The Department of Homeland Security past verified that Evans was authorized to activity successful nan U.S.,” Chard said. “The shape was submitted and approved by DHS connected May 12, 2025.”

“Evans would not person been permitted to statesman activity arsenic a reserve serviceman until and unless Homeland Security verified his status,” she said.

“In Old Orchard Beach, reserve constabulary officers are part-time, seasonal labor who must meet nan aforesaid inheritance checks, walk nan aforesaid beingness agility tests, and person nan aforesaid aesculapian evaluations arsenic full-time constabulary officers,” Chard said.

Maine is 1 of astir a twelve states that allow noncitizens to activity successful rule enforcement. Some of those states require nan migrant to beryllium a green-card holder, while others, specified arsenic Maine, require nan migrant to beryllium legally authorized to activity successful nan U.S.

ICE disparaged nan constabulary section successful a statement.

“The truth that a constabulary section would prosecute an forbidden alien and unlawfully rumor him a firearm while connected work would beryllium comical if it weren’t truthful tragic," ICE's acting section agency head successful Boston, Patricia Hyde, said successful nan statement. "We person a constabulary section that was knowingly breaking nan very rule they are charged pinch enforcing successful bid to employment an forbidden alien."

Chard said nan constabulary section “takes its ineligible responsibilities very seriously, and takes awesome attraction to travel nan laws that we are tasked pinch enforcing. In hiring Evans, our section and our organization relied connected nan Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify programme to guarantee we were gathering our obligations, and we are distressed and profoundly concerned astir this evident correction connected nan portion of nan national government.”

“We intend to analyse this matter to find what different steps we should return moving guardant to guarantee our continued compliance pinch each applicable laws,” she said.

ICE said that Evans told ICE officers that he had tried to bargain nan firearm for his occupation arsenic a constabulary serviceman pinch nan Old Orchard Beach Police Department.

Chard said reserve officers person firearms training and are issued a firearm, but must move their firearms successful astatine nan extremity of each displacement and reserve officers “are not requested to, nor are they allowed to acquisition aliases transportation immoderate different firearms for nan capacity of their duties.”

She said that reserve officers person a lengthy probationary play and that nan section will behaviour an soul reappraisal of nan circumstances and that Evans’ probation position is nether review.

Maine has immoderate 34,000 migrant workers, aliases 4.6% of nan state’s labour force, according to nan American Immigration Council. There are besides an estimated 5,800 unauthorized immigrants of moving property successful nan state, according to nan council.