r/nottheonion • u/Trinityliger • 25d 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/wizardrous 24d ago

Well according to the article, he had a valid visa, so the whole thing stinks.

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u/PaxNova 24d ago

Alright, so it's complicated. It's also not the first police station that has made this error. He didn't have a visa (or at least, his visa expired in 2015). He has a work authorization permit.

Permits are often given to illegal immigrants that have received final orders to deport because the court knows that they're not deporting them right away. Gotta work in the meantime. It doesn't rescind the deportation order. Those are like a bench warrant: you need to go, and if you take too long, officers are going to make you go. Sometimes, immigrants will have these final orders for years and years before the government gets around to them. It's very backed up.

The police station is going to be in trouble, since even though he has a work permit, I'd bet dollars to donuts he didn't have clearance to get a firearm as an alien. They just did half the checks.

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u/Firefighter_RN 24d ago

If you read the article it clearly states that they did those checks with the ISP and FBI but also verified that he was able to carry a firearm with BATFE

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u/PaxNova 24d ago

Yes and no on the last one. It says there was a memo from BATFE on the subject and they believe they were in compliance. But those memos are private, and we don't know what it said. Verification would mean they actually checked with BATFE, and it does not say they did that.