The federal government is calling the Old Orchard Beach Police Department “reckless” for its reliance on Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program.
That comes after a reserve police officer hired by the town, Jon Luke Evans, was arrested for allegedly being in the United States illegally.
Evans, who is from Jamaica, was arrested in Biddeford on Friday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
His arrest came after Evans tried to buy a firearm for his work as a reserve police officer, the agency said Monday.
ICE said that Evans entered the U.S. at Miami International Airport in Florida on Sept. 24, 2023, but failed to leave on his scheduled departure date, Oct. 1, 2023.
“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm. Shockingly, Evans was employed as a local law enforcement officer,” said Patricia H. Hyde, the acting field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. “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. We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien threats from our New England communities.”
But the Old Orchard Police Department fired back late Monday night, saying the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cleared Evans to work in the beachside community.
“Evans would not have been permitted to begin work as a reserve officer until and unless Homeland Security verified his status,” the department said in a dueling press release.
Old Orchard Beach police hired Evans in May to boost the department’s ranks for the summer tourist season. Reserve officers, who work part time, are typically assigned to bicycle or foot patrols and community policing. They are issued a service weapon but have to turn it in at the end of their shift, the department said.
The department added that all reserve officers must pass a background check and the same physical and medical exams as full-time officers.
Maine is one of a dozen states that allow non-citizens legally residing in the U.S. to work in law enforcement.
Evans presented necessary identification and completed an I-9 federal immigration and work authorization form, which Old Orchard Beach submitted to Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program. On May 12, the federal government approved Evans’ application and verified that he was legally permitted to work in the U.S. and that his I-766 employment authorization document didn’t expire until March 2030, according to Old Orchard Beach police.
Now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is hitting the Old Orchard Beach Police Department for its “reckless reliance” on the E-Verify Program.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told ABC affiliate WMTW that E-Verify” is a reliable and accurate tool for “verifying work authorization.”
But McLaughlin went on to tell the TV station that “Usage of E-Verify does not absolve employers of their legal duty to verify documentation authenticity, and all employers should take necessary steps to effectively verify legal employment status.”
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E-Verify to justify arming an illegal alien, Jon Luke Evans violates federal law, and does not absolve them of their failure to conduct basic background checks to verify legal status,” she said.
In its Monday night rebuttal to ICE, Old Orchard Beach cast blame on the federal government for making this “apparent error” in approving Evans to work in the country.
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department takes its legal responsibilities very seriously, and takes great care to follow the laws that we are tasked with enforcing. In hiring Evans, our department and our community relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program to ensure we were meeting our obligations, and we are distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government. We intend to investigate this matter to determine what other steps we should take moving forward to ensure our continued compliance with all applicable laws,” the department said.