An Old Orchard Beach police officer is now in the custody of ICE, after immigration agents say he tried to illegally buy a firearm.
They say Jon Luke Evans is an illegal immigrant from Jamaica who overstayed his visa, and his attempt to purchase the firearm triggered an alert to ATF agents.
The Boston ICE Field Office Director was highly critical of the hiring by the Old Orchard Beach Police.
“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,” said said ICE ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien.”
Evans was employed as a reserve police officer in Old Orchard Beach. He was arrested in Biddeford Friday.
Old Orchard Beach Police say they relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program, which verified that Evans was authorized to work in the U.S. The department said it’s distressed and deeply concerned about the apparent error on the part of the federal government.
According to U.S. Immigration Enforcement, Evans lawfully entered the United States Sept. 24, 2023, at the Miami International Airport, in Florida. They say he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa. Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. October 1, 2023, but never boarded the flight.
