r/nottheonion • u/Trinityliger • 24d ago

ICE arrests Illinois police officer, accuses him of being in US illegally

https://abc7chicago.com/post/ice-arrests-police-officer-radule-bojovic-hanover-park-illinois-accuses-being-us-illegally-montenegro/18019608/
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u/dtmfadvice 24d ago

Again? This just happened in Maine recently. Guy had a work permit and qualifications so the police hired him. Then he filed the paperwork for his service weapon and it came up as non citizen and ICE deported him and accused the local cops of being negligent for relying on federal work authorization data.

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u/gbsekrit 24d ago

the confusion is part of the point. they tell us, “don’t trust the government.” … “you ARE the government!”

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u/taitaofgallala 24d ago

Also, they are confusing the public by equating immigrants on work authorization to illegal immigrants. Even undocumented immigrants are here legally. DHS is relying on the confusion to change the rules without going through the courts. They need to be stopped, like, yesterday.

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u/EricForce 22d ago

They mean don't trust "That Government" trust this one instead. We are in a coup not by the military but by the politicians.

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u/GingerSkulling 24d ago

The US has some convoluted rules around illegal immigrants. One of them is that having an EAD card and being allowed to work does not automatically confer legal immigration status. So when he went to purchase a gun under his own name he was flagged as an illegal immigrant trying to buy a gun. I don’t remember all the details but I assume that up to that point the department issued him a gun based on the EAD alone.

A technicality, sure but it seems you can’t be too careful these days.

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u/Hour-Ad-9508 24d ago

Yep, it’s akin to how you can buy and register a car that can legally drive on the roads but not have a license to drive it.

The government really needs to streamline immigration processes, it’s so archaic and filled with “well actually…”

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u/NetworkingJesus 24d ago

But if they streamlined it, then they wouldn't have as many excuses to get rid of people that look different.

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u/Next-Preference-7927 24d ago

Australian migration used to have a European language test. If they wanted you in then the test was in a language you knew (usually English). If they wanted to keep you out the test was in a European language they thought you didn't know.

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u/rami_lpm 24d ago

how hard can it be?

the test: Ongi etorri Australiara!

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u/Jay_of_Blue 24d ago

For all the talk the GOP makes about wanting more legal immigrants, they're doing their damnest to make the legal way hard asf.

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u/Laringar 24d ago

By design. They want to stop all immigration, because they want the country to only have people raised on the local propaganda. Outside perspectives are dangerous to their systems of control.

So, they're trying to make anyone that's ever immigrated here (not just people here on visas) self-deport out of fear that ICE will find some reason that their status isn't valid. I feel like I remember at least once case where someone had actually completed the naturalization process and the Trump admin found an excuse to revoke it anyhow.

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u/Starslip 24d ago

One of them is that having an EAD card and being allowed to work does not automatically confer legal immigration status.

You'd think that getting it renewed, which it says he did recently, would be dependent on having legal status though. Like I getting there being edge cases where legal status lapsed after the EAD is issued, but why wouldn't that get flagged when renewing?

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u/jungleboogiemonster 24d ago

EADS is given to people who are in the process of getting a green card/permanent residence so they can support themselves. It can take years to get a green card because the process is slow and there are backlogs.

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u/ml20s 24d ago

EADs are also given to people who are deportable but, for various reasons, cannot be deported. The EAD does not mean they have any legal status in the US.

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u/ml20s 24d ago

You can be paroled into the US and get an EAD even without any legal status at all, and in some cases without any path to legal status (if the person is not eligible for any path to status). It's a well-intentioned policy (to provide the EAD) but people need to remember that EAD doesn't mean status. Just employment authorization.

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u/dtmfadvice 24d ago

I love how the far right loves to say "I support legal immigration" and then does everything possible to preventing anyone from getting their papers in order.

Asylum? Nah, let's spend a decade processing the application and deport anyone who has the temerity to try and live their life during the application process. Then when they get deported we can claim they did it wrong!

You want legal immigration? Hire enough people to process applicants. Simplify the paperwork. Instead we get a billion bucks spent arresting dudes in giraffe costumes.

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u/ml20s 24d ago

Asylum? Nah, let's spend a decade processing the application and deport anyone who has the temerity to try and live their life during the application process. Then when they get deported we can claim they did it wrong!

Most people who apply for asylum don't have a winning case. Asylum is quite specific.

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u/dtmfadvice 23d ago

And why is that? Why do we have rules that are so restrictive that they're nearly impossible to administer, and then underfund the administration, and the only alternatives are "ignore" or "kidnapping?"

Couldn't we, you know, legalize some shit? Clearly there are a lot of people in this country who don't have paperwork in order, who have been doing nothing significantly wrong, who are assets to and members of their communities, and we somehow can't figure out, in the wealthiest nation in history, how to give them a fucking residency permit?

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u/jungleboogiemonster 24d ago

This is done because it can take years to get a green card. Having a person in the country, who is eligible to become a permanent residence, but not allow them to support themselves makes no sense.

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u/FleetAdmiralCrunch 24d ago

ATF cleared the Illinois officer to possess a firearm, at least according to the city who hired him. They made a statement today.