OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The chief of police in a Maine resort town has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, who 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.
The Old Orchard Beach Police Department and ICE officials did not respond to requests for a status update about Evans’ case. It was unclear on Tuesday if he had access to an attorney.
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.
Chard said the town submitted information via the Department of Homeland Security’s Program. E-Verify is an online system launched in the late 1990s that allows employers to check if potential employees can work legally in the U.S. Some large private employers use it, but most do not.
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. She said the department would also conduct an internal review of the circumstances of the case.
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department was never officially informed about Evans’ detention, and the department officially learned the details of the matter in a news release issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Chard said.
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.
Old Orchard Beach is a popular summer vacation destination in Maine, beloved for its boardwalk, beach and downtown amusement park. It is a highly seasonal community that is most active in the summer, when it swells with visitors and requires a larger police presence than the slower, colder months.
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.
Evans passed physical and medical checks, and a background check, Chard said. He also underwent the standard course of training before being deployed on duty, she said.
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