ICE arrests Chicago policeman, an alleged illegal immigrant

Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday took into custody a sworn police officer illegally living in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Montenegro national Radule Bojovic has been illegally in the country since his B2 tourist visa expired in March 2015, DHS said. The Hanover Park Police Department, operating in a Chicago suburb, hired Bojovic as an officer this year, and it’s a felony for an illegal migrant to possess a firearm, DHS noted. It wasn’t clear on Friday morning where Bojovic was processed, if he was being held, or if he had retained an attorney.

What has the police department said? Hanover officials insisted they confirmed that Bojovic was authorized to work in the country before hiring him in January, according to a Thursday statement responding to Bojovic’s arrest. He gave the department a valid and freshly renewed Work Authorization Card issued by the federal immigration services, the department claimed.

Hanover officials said they never received any notice from federal or state agencies that Bojovic’s work authorization had been revoked. They also insisted that they ran a full background check on Bojovic. Everything indicated he was legally authorized to serve as a police officer, the department insisted. Bojovic is now on administrative leave while immigration proceedings are underway, but will return to his role if he’s allowed to stay in the country, Hanover officials added.

How are public officials reacting to the arrest? Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets illegal migrants terrorize Illinois’s communities and even serve as sworn police officers, according to Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Bojovic has been in the country illegally for over a decade, and yet somehow he has a badge and gun, she added.

Pritzker has continued sparring with the Trump administration after President Donald Trump sought to deploy the National Guard to fight crime in Chicago. The Trump administration causes nothing but chaos and division, and Illinoisans don’t want any Trump officials in the state, Pritzker wrote hours after Bojovic’s arrest. 

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins’ report in WORLD about demonstrators in Chicago protesting ICE.