ICE Arrests Maine Officer Homeland Security Approved for Hire: Police Department, ICE Blame Each Other, DHS Remains Silent
- Natalie Frank
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
Old Orchard Beach Police stunned as DHS won't explain how approved cop wound up in handcuffs
Natalie C. Frank, Ph.D August 1, 2025
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — A dramatic turn in a seaside town has plunged local law enforcement into the middle of a tangled and emotional showdown between local law enforcement and federal agencies after ICE arrested a Jamaican-born reserve officer who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had previously cleared to serve.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Jon Luke Evans on July 25, due to an alleged visa overstay and an unlawful attempt to purchase a firearm. ICE officials stated that Evans entered the U.S. legally on September 24, 2023, via Miami International Airport, but failed to depart a week later, invalidating his status and preventing him from working in the U.S. from that point on. The agency says that the attempted gun buy triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which worked with ICE to carry out the arrest.
Evans reportedly told agents that the purchase was tied to his duties as a part‑time reserve officer for the Old Orchard Beach Police Department.
“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 Patricia H. Hyde, acting field office director for ICE ERO Boston in a directed statement. “We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien.”
But at Old Orchard Beach headquarters, the tone was firm and emotional. Chief Elise Chard says her department had full faith in the federal vetting system, and that DHS had confirmed Evans was legally authorized to work in May 2025.
“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,” Chard stated.
She emphasized that Evans held an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) valid through March 2030, and that he had satisfied background checks, medical exams, training, and I‑9 verification just like any other recruit.
Reserve officers like Evans cannot bring department-issued firearms home or buy their own weapons for use on duty, Chard stressed, heightening her department’s sense that everything was done by the book.
“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,” Chard said.
Additionally, Chard stated that she was not informed directly and only learned of her officer's arrest through a public press release. She said the fact that these Federal agencies are not being transparent is another problem with the case. She said she wants “clearer protocols to ensure that local law enforcement is formally notified in advance of any actions involving its personnel.”
There is also no information regarding where Evans is being held as a search conducted of ICE's detainee database turned up no results.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of DHS Tricia McLaughlin sharply rebuked the town’s reliance on E‑Verify. She insisted that the department’s failure to conduct deeper document verification remains a serious breach of protocol. “Usage of E‑Verify does not absolve employers of their legal duty to verify documentation authenticity,” McLaughlin cautioned. “The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E‑Verify to justify arming an illegal alien … violates federal law.”
During this escalating interagency dispute, Town Manager Diana Asanza fought back. “Today, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down on its attack, but in doing so has thrown its own electronic verification system into question,” she declared. “If we should not trust the word of the federal computer system that verifies documents and employment eligibility, what good is that system?”
A scan of Evans’ 153‑page personnel file revealed a résumé indicating prior experience as a teaching assistant at the College of Agriculture, Science, and Education in Jamaica, followed by a summer job at a Waffle House in South Carolina, all preceding his claimed lawful entry into the country. DHS has not responded to requests regarding that apparent discrepancy.
Evans described his career shift on the résumé: from agriculture education and environmental conservation to a life in public safety “where I can make a positive impact on society.”
There is no indication as to whether Evans has legal representation post-arrest, though he is entitled to counsel under U.S. immigration law.
Evans arrest has deeply unsettled the department during the height of Maine’s tourist season, said Chard. She also remarked that Evans was well liked by his colleagues and had a respected role among the other officers. He also has family ties in the community according to Chard.
Rep. Lori K. Gramlich, Maine's Assistant House Majority Leader, reported that she is formally calling for a federal review of the E-Verify and DHS authorization process that permitted Evans to begin work in May. In a statement she said she wants, “clearer protocols to ensure that local law enforcement is formally notified in advance of any actions involving its personnel.”
Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree, issued a statement supporting Old Orchard Beach, blaming ICE for what she described as harmful and inconsistent enforcement tactics.
"If Homeland Security's own system gave a local police department the green light to hire someone, then the agency turned around and arrested that individual without warning, something is seriously broken," she remarked. "ICE's arrest of an Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve officer is deeply troubling and exposes a broader pattern: The immigration enforcement tactics used by this administration are more opaque, more punitive, wildly inconsistent, and are enabling unchecked authority and undermining trust in lawful pathways."
Pingree also said that she has received calls from other employers in the state whose immigrant employees authorized to work by DHS are also being targeted for arrest.
"These are not failures of individuals. They are failures of a system that makes it dangerously easy to jail people who are here lawfully and fully participating in and contributing to our community," Pingree said.
Across the state, officials have responded with caution to this scandal. Maine’s Legislature recently passed LD 1971, which restricts cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement except under criminal contexts. The measure reflects growing concern over unclear federal protocols and local autonomy.
Immigrant workers make up approximately 4 to 5 percent of Maine’s labor force, with about 34,000 individuals, many playing key roles in healthcare, agriculture, and community services. That figure underscores both their economic contributions and the fragile infrastructure of immigrant integration within legal systems.
Maine is one of about a dozen states that allows immigrants with valid work authorization to serve as law enforcement officers. Some of those states require the immigrant to be a green-card holder, while others, such as Maine, require the immigrant to be legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Last April, New Mexico passed a law permitting non-citizens vetted by Federal Government procedures to work as police officers. In March, Utah passed a similar law allowing noncitizens to become police officers, removing the requirement that immigrants must be permanent citizens.
Other law enforcement heads are less enthusiastic about this course of action. Although Washington passed a similar law in February that allows law enforcement to hire anyone who can legally work in the United States., the Pierce County sheriff said he will refuse to hire any non-U.S. citizen.
