US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a Jamaican nationwide for allegedly trying to buy a firearm illegally whereas employed as a reserve police officer in Previous Orchard Seaside.
In response to ICE’s Enforcement and Elimination Operations (ERO) in Boston, Jon Luke Evans was taken into custody with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after his firearm buy try raised issues tied to his immigration standing on July 25 in Biddeford.
Federal authorities say Evans legally entered america via Miami Worldwide Airport on Sept. 24, 2023, underneath a visa that required his departure by Oct. 1, 2023.
He failed to go away as required and has remained within the nation unlawfully since.
In the course of the investigation, Evans reportedly claimed he was in search of to buy the firearm to be used in his position with the Previous Orchard Seaside Police Division.
ICE officers at the moment are questioning how a person with out lawful immigration standing was employed by a neighborhood police company and presumably issued a department-issued weapon.
“This case raises critical issues,” mentioned Patricia H. Hyde, appearing discipline workplace director for ERO Boston. “We are going to proceed working to make sure that people who violate immigration legal guidelines and pose potential threats to public security are held accountable.”
The Previous Orchard Seaside Police Division instructed Fox Information Digital that Evans was employed in Could as a seasonal officer and underwent a full background verify, bodily and medical screening, and regulation enforcement coaching.
As a part of the hiring course of, the division submitted his employment paperwork to DHS via the federal E-Confirm system. In response to police, DHS confirmed Evans’ eligibility to work, and his Employment Authorization Doc confirmed an expiration date of March 2030.
“Our division and our group relied on the Division of Homeland Safety’s E-Confirm program to make sure we had been assembly our obligations,” mentioned Police Chief Elise Chard. “We’re distressed and deeply involved about this obvious error on the a part of the federal authorities.”
Maine is certainly one of a few dozen states that enables non-citizens with legitimate work permits to serve in regulation enforcement. Reserve officers in Previous Orchard Seaside are seasonal workers tasked with group patrols and don’t take department-issued firearms house or carry private weapons whereas on obligation.
Evans’ probationary standing is presently underneath evaluation, and the division has launched an inside investigation to guage its hiring protocols and guarantee compliance with all federal and state legal guidelines.
“We take our authorized tasks very severely,” Chief Chard added.
“We intend to analyze this matter totally and decide what further steps could also be obligatory shifting ahead.”
The arrest of Evans follows the same case from April, wherein ICE officers detained one other unlawful immigrant regulation enforcement worker in Falmouth, Maine.
Gratien Milandou Wamba, a 32-year-old Congolese nationwide, was working as a corrections officer when he was apprehended by ICE for immigration violations after allegedly trying to buy a firearm illegally.
“Officers with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Elimination Operations Boston discipline workplace arrested Gratien Milandou Wamba, an illegally current, 32-year-old citizen of Congo,” ICE Spokesperson James Covington, noting the arrest stemmed from an illegal firearm buy try.
ICE emphasised that it’ll proceed enforcement efforts throughout New England, working in coordination with different federal companies to determine and apprehend people in violation of U.S. immigration legal guidelines, particularly these employed in delicate public security positions.
