The Old Orchard Beach Police department has vowed to investigate the arrest of the officer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on July 28 that it arrested a reserve police officer who was illegally present in the United States after he allegedly attempted to illegally purchase a firearm in Maine.
Officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), arrested Jon Luke Evans on July 25 in Biddeford after his attempt to purchase the firearm triggered an alert to ATF agents.
ICE said in a statement that at the time of his arrest, Evans, a Jamaican national, was employed as a reserve police officer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department.
It said that Evans admitted to ICE officers that he attempted to purchase the firearm for his employment.
The agency said Evans legally entered the United States in September 2023 at the Miami International Airport in Florida. It said he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa after failing to depart the country in October 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 ICE ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “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.”
Hyde accused the Old Orchard Beach Police Department of “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,” Hyde said.
In a separate statement on July 29, Old Orchard Beach Police Chief Elise Chard said that Evans had received approval from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to work for the department as a summer reserve officer in May.
“As part of the standard hiring process by the Town and the Police Department, Evans was required to complete an I-9 federal immigration and work authorization form to verify that he was legally authorized to work in the United States,” Chard said.
Chard said the town reviewed multiple forms of identification before hiring Evans, including photo identification, and submitted his I-9 form to DHS’s E-Verify Program, an online system that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work legally in the United States.
DHS then verified that Evans was authorized to work in the United States, according to Chard.
Evans’s I-9 form was submitted and approved by DHS on May 12, 2025, she said.
“Evans would not have been permitted to begin work as a reserve officer until and unless Homeland Security verified his status,” Chard said. “The Police Department was notified that Evans was legally permitted to work in the U.S., and his I-766 Employment Authorization Document was not set to expire until March 2030.”
Maine is among a handful of states that allow noncitizen residents to work in law enforcement, Chard said.
Reserve officers receive firearms training and are issued a firearm; however, they are not allowed to bring a Department-issued firearm home with them and must hand their firearms into the department at the end of each shift, she said.
“Reserve officers are not requested to, nor are they allowed to purchase or carry any other firearms for the performance of their duties,” Chard noted.
Chard added that the police department “takes its legal responsibilities very seriously” and is “distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government.”
She said it plans to investigate Evans’s arrest “to determine what other steps we should take moving forward to ensure our continued compliance with all applicable laws.”
It is not clear whether Evans has legal representation.
The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson for ICE for comment.
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