❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Jamaican national residing in the United States illegally has been arrested after attempting to unlawfully purchase a firearm. Shockingly, he was working as a police officer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department in Maine.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Jon Luke Evans, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE Boston Field Office director Patricia Hyde, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and Maine’s Old Orchard Beach Police Department.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The arrest was announced on Monday, July 28, 2025, with Evans having overstayed his U.S. visa in October 2023.
💬KEY QUOTE: “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 Field Office director Patricia Hyde
🎯IMPACT: The arrest of Evans is raising alarms about whether local law enforcement, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions, are enforcing U.S. laws or even conducting proper background checks on their own employees.
An illegal immigrant has been arrested after his attempt to unlawfully purchase a firearm was flagged by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Shockingly, Jon Luke Evans—a Jamaican national—was employed as a police officer in Maine when he attempted the gun purchase.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Evans—who entered the U.S. through Miami, Florida, on September 24, 2023—failed to board his return flight to Jamaica on October 1, 2023, subsequently overstaying his visa. Somehow, despite no longer having legal status to remain in the United States, Evans was eventually hired as a police officer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
The circumstances under which a local Maine police department hired Evans remain unclear. However, the Jamaican’s status as an illegal immigrant was discovered by federal immigration agents after he attempted to purchase a firearm for his job. Evans has admitted to the illegal purchase.
“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm,” ICE Boston Field Office director Patricia Hyde said in a statement regarding the illegal immigrant’s arrest. “Shockingly, Evans was employed as a local law enforcement officer. 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.”
The Old Orchard Beach Police Department is not escaping federal scrutiny, with Hyde adding: “We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing in order to employ an illegal alien.”
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