Maine police chief says officer arrested by ICE is missed by colleagues and was eligible to work

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The police officer arrested by immigration authorities in a Maine town was a trusted member of the force who is missed by his colleagues, officials said Wednesday, expressing frustration with the lack of information about the case from the federal government.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve Officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25. The agency, which has been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations, said Evans overstayed his visa and unlawfully attempted to purchase a firearm.

Police Chief Elise Chard said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has verified that Evans was federally approved to work in the country in May and that the town and police department haven’t received any information about Evans’ case, his current whereabouts or whether he is represented by an attorney.

ICE officials did not respond to email and phone request for comment Wednesday.

Evans had the respect of his peers and quickly became a valued officer, and his arrest has been dispiriting for a department that relies on seasonal help during the busy summer months, Chard said. She said Evans has a wife who continues to live locally.

“I’m hoping that this can be resolved and there will be a finding of no wrongdoing on anybody’s part and he can go on with his life the way he intended,” Chard said.

Chard said the department was notified by federal officials that Evans was legally permitted to work in the country and his authorization document would not expire until 2030. She said the town submitted information via the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program prior to Evans’ employment. E-Verify is an online system launched in the late 1990s that allows employers to check if potential employees can work legally in the U.S. Some large private employers use it, but most do not.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told WMTW-TV that use of E-Verify “does not absolve employers of their legal duty” to 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,” McLaughlin told the station.

Town manager Diana Asanza said the Department of Homeland Security “has thrown its own electronic verification system into question” by accusing the town of hiring an unauthorized worker.

“If we should not trust the word of the federal computer system that verifies documents and employment eligibility, what good is that system?” Asanza said.

ICE said in a Monday statement that Evans admitted to its officers that he attempted to purchase a firearm for his employment as a police officer with the town. That triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which coordinated with ICE to make the arrest, the agency said in a statement.

Evans initially entered the country legally and was scheduled to depart the U.S. in October 2023 but never boarded his departing flight, the statement says. He then overstayed his visa, it says.

Chard has said the police department is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest.

Maine Assistant House Majority Leader Rep. Lori K. Gramlich, an Old Orchard Beach Democrat, said she is calling for federal review of the E-Verify and DHS authorization process that allowed Evans to begin work in May. She said in a statement that she also wants “clearer protocols to ensure that local law enforcement is formally notified in advance of any actions involving its personnel.”