Police Department In Maine Under Scrutiny After Arrest
Now, tell me if this doesn’t sound like a rejected Netflix script: A young man from Jamaica, Jon Luke Evans, visits the U.S., falls in love with the place, and somehow ends up becoming a police officer in one of Maine’s quaintest little coastal towns. Old Orchard Beach — population 10,000 for most of the year, but ballooning to over 100,000 when the summer tourists roll in. It’s like Cool Runnings meets Cops… until the whole thing blows up in spectacular fashion.
Posted to the Old Orchard Brach Police Department Facebook page. Gun can be seen here clear as day. pic.twitter.com/lxw0oN53bz
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 28, 2025
Evans didn’t just work as a beach-town patrolman. He did everything by the book — or so it seemed. He graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s Pre-Service Program, passed his background checks, got officially sworn in, received his badge and service weapon from Police Chief Elise Chard, and proudly became Officer Evans of the Old Orchard Beach Police Department. But then he did something that exposed a big, ugly crack in the system: he tried to buy a personal firearm.
WHAT?!
ICE has arrested Jon Luke Evans, an illegal immigrant from Jamaica, after he attempted to buy a firearm. Evans had been serving as a police officer in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
HOW in the world can Maine allow an illegal alien to get hired as a law enforcement officer?! pic.twitter.com/ppoEDnXw0p
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) July 29, 2025
That’s when ICE showed up.
The attempted purchase triggered a federal background check, which flagged his overstayed visa. Suddenly, the same guy wearing the uniform of Maine law enforcement was on ICE’s radar — and not in a good way. According to ICE’s Boston office, Evans not only overstayed his visa, but his attempt to legally purchase a firearm brought his status to light.
They didn’t just quietly deport him. They torched the whole situation, blasting the police department for employing an “illegal alien” and handing him a service weapon. Acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde didn’t mince words, calling the situation “tragic” and “comical if it weren’t so serious.”
This is DEI… Old Orchard Beach’s first female police chief Elise Chard plasters images over social media of her hiring a non-white police officer, Jon Luke Evans… who turns out to be an illegal alien prohibited from carrying a firearm.https://t.co/PG11E30XwJ pic.twitter.com/VgQKyqfVlz
— Steve Robinson (@BigSteve207) July 28, 2025
But here’s where the story takes a turn from bizarre to bureaucratically maddening: Chief Chard insists her department did everything right. They ran Evans through E-Verify. They submitted all his documentation to the Department of Homeland Security. They were told his employment authorization was valid until 2030.
In other words, the feds told them he was clear to work. So either Evans lied on his paperwork, or the federal government completely botched its own system — and now ICE is pointing fingers at a small-town police department for trusting Washington’s process.
And Evans isn’t alone. A similar case recently surfaced with a Cumberland County corrections officer from the Congo who was also arrested by ICE after overstaying his visa despite having a work permit.