Maine police officer arrested by ICE to voluntarily leave US

A reserve officer for the Old Orchard Beach Police Department in Maine will voluntarily leave the country after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him last month.

Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, was arrested July 25 by ICE and has agreed to leave the U.S. at his own expense to avoid being deported, according to the Associated Press. ICE told the wire service Monday that a judge had granted voluntary departure for Evans and that he could leave the U.S. as soon as that day.

The police department and the Department of Homeland Security disagree about Evans's vetting and hiring process.

The town says it had submitted Evans' I-9 tax form to DHS's E-Verify program to confirm his immigration status and work eligibility. DHS reported in May that Evans was an "alien authorized to work," according to police, WMTW reported. Evans' Customs and Immigration Form I-766 also showed he could hold legal employment in the U.S. through March 19, 2030, which DHS validated, police said.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said the police department had a "reckless reliance" on the E-Verify program and should have worked harder to verify his status.

"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," she said in a statement.

She also said that E-Verify is a proven tool that "delivers high accuracy in verifying work authorization by cross-checking employee documents against government databases to combat rampant document fraud and protecting American workers."

Police Chief Elise Chard said her department followed the proper verification process with the federal government.

"Simply stated, had the federal government flagged his information the town would not have hired Mr. Evans," Chard said in a statement. "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."

“The town reiterates its ongoing commitment to meeting all state and federal laws regarding employment,” she also said. “We will continue to rely on the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form and the E-Verify database to confirm employment eligibility.”

According to ICE's detainee lookup website, Evans was being held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island. However, the facility said that Evans had been transferred to an ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts. 

ICE officials did not respond to the AP's requests for comment on the discrepancy, and it was unclear if Evans was represented by an attorney.

In July, ICE officials said that Evans was arrested for overstaying his visa and unlawfully attempting to purchase a firearm. Evans lawfully entered the U.S. at Miami International Airport in Florida on Sept. 24, 2023, and was scheduled to depart the country a week later, according to ICE. However, he never boarded the flight.