The unlawful immigrant arrested after allegedly making an attempt to purchase a gun offered a Massachusetts driver’s license throughout the software course of to the Maine police division he has been working for, in accordance with officers.
Previous Orchard Seashore, a resort city of below 9,000 residents, finds itself in a combat with the Division of Homeland Safety over the hiring of Jamaican native Jon-Luke Evans.
City officers say they compiled a 153-page personnel file on Evans that consisted of background examine paperwork and different data after he utilized to be a seasonal reserve officer in early April.
Evans is claimed to have offered a Massachusetts driver’s license to the city’s human assets division as a part of his software, together with a Jamaican beginning certificates and passport, U.S. Social Safety and work authorization playing cards, and proof of school credit score.
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department thoroughly checked Mr. Evans’ background and verified that all information and documentation he provided was accurate,” Police Chief Elise Chard stated. “The depth of his personnel file shows the diligence the Town takes in hiring.”
Brokers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Evans final week in Biddeford, 5 miles away from Previous Orchard Seashore, after he allegedly admitted that he tried to purchase the gun for his employment as a police officer.
His try and buy the firearm triggered an alert to brokers with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ICE’s Boston discipline workplace reported on Monday.
“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm,” Patricia Hyde, ICE ERO Boston’s appearing discipline workplace director, stated in an announcement. “Shockingly, Evans was employed as a neighborhood legislation enforcement officer. The truth that a police division would rent an unlawful alien and unlawfully difficulty him a firearm whereas on responsibility could be comical if it weren’t so tragic.
Evans entered the U.S. on Sept. 24, 2023, at Miami Worldwide Airport, however he violated the phrases of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa, ICE stated.
Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. on Oct. 1, 2023, however he by no means boarded the flight.
The City of Previous Orchard Seashore says it adopted its “standing hiring policies and procedures” throughout Evans’ software and “verified that all documentation Evans provided was authentic.”
City officers are declaring that Maine is one in all greater than a dozen states within the U.S. that permit noncitizens to work in legislation enforcement.
“Simply stated, had the federal government flagged his information, the Town would not have hired Mr. Evans,” Chief Chard stated in her assertion. “Any insinuation that the Town and Department were derelict in our efforts to verify Mr. Evans’ eligibility to work for the Town is false and appears to be an attempt to shift the blame onto a hard-working local law enforcement agency that has done its job.”
City officers are butting heads with the Division of Homeland Safety over E-Confirm, an internet system that permits employers to verify the eligibility of their staff to work within the nation.
Police Chief Chard stated Monday that the city submitted Evans’ I-9 kind to DHS by E-Confirm, with the feds approving the doc on Might 12.
Evans was sworn into the division earlier this summer season after finishing the appliance course of and coaching necessities.
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E-Verify to justify arming an illegal alien, Jon Luke Evans, violates federal law,” DHS stated in an announcement earlier Wednesday, “and doesn’t absolve them of their failure to conduct primary background checks to confirm authorized standing.
“No illegal alien should ever be provided a firearm or serve in law enforcement,” it added, “not only is it the law, it’s also basic common sense.”
City Supervisor Diana Asanza responded Wednesday night, saying the statements from the feds “undermine public trust and confidence in municipal law enforcement.”
“Today, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down on its attack,” she stated, “but in doing so has thrown its own electronic verification system into question. If we should not trust the word of the federal computer system that verifies documents and employment eligibility, what good is that system?”
