Seasonal cops? Maine town police chief misses her now-detained illegal alien officer
July 31, 2025|4 min read
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Federal immigration authorities detained a reserve police officer in Maine last month, revealing troubling gaps in employment verification systems and raising serious questions about public safety protocols when armed law enforcement personnel lack legal status to possess firearms. More alarming still, is that Police Chief Elise Chard has defended the employment of the illegal, while implicitly characterizing her profession as one would a migrant farmhand.
Jon Luke Evans, a reserve officer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, originally from Jamaica, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 25.
ICE disclosed in a Monday statement that Evans had acknowledged attempting to purchase a firearm for his police duties with the municipality. This action triggered an alert to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which worked with ICE to execute the arrest.
According to the agency, Evans had entered the United States through legal channels and was supposed to leave in October 2023. However, he failed to board his scheduled departure flight and subsequently violated his visa terms by remaining in the country.
The arrest has created significant concern among Americans who recognize the inherent contradiction of having someone serve in an armed law enforcement capacity while being legally prohibited from purchasing the very weapons they carry in their official duties.
Police Chief Elise Chard defended the department’s vetting procedures, stating that federal authorities had confirmed Evans’s work authorization in May. According to Chard, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security verified Evans was approved for employment, with documentation valid through 2030. However, federal officials have provided no updates on Evans’s situation, current location, or legal representation since the arrest.
Chard characterized Evans as having earned his colleagues’ respect and described his detention as demoralizing for a department dependent on seasonal personnel during summer months. She noted that Evans has a spouse who remains in the local area.
“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.
The casual ease with which Chief Chard discusses relying on seasonal help during the busy summer months reveals a troubling mindset that treats armed law enforcement positions like picking strawberries or serving ice cream to tourists. Her language mirrors exactly what you’d hear from farm managers or resort owners scrambling to fill spots with whoever’s available when the busy season hits, except those seasonal workers aren’t typically handed badges, arrest powers, and firearms.
The town had processed Evans’s employment through the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify Program, an electronic system established in the late 1990s that enables employers to confirm workers’ legal employment status. While some major private companies utilize this system, most employers do not.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin criticized the department’s reliance on the verification system, telling WMTW that E-Verify usage “does not absolve employers of their legal duty” to confirm employment authorization.
“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 pushed back against federal criticism, arguing that the Department of Homeland Security “has thrown its own electronic verification system into question” by claiming the town employed 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.
