Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested a Chicago area police officer who is accused of residing in the United States illegally, according to a press release by the Department of Homeland Security.
Radule Bojovic, a Montenegro native, was employed as a police officer for the Hanover Police Department before being arrested last week.
He was “encountered during a targeted enforcement action” as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a surge of immigration enforcement that began last month, DHS said in a press release Thursday announcing the arrest.
The shocking arrest comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts across the country, fulfilling a key campaign promise while drawing the ire of many who oppose the mass deportation campaign.
The DHS criticized Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for the state’s lax immigration policies, questioning how how Bojovic came to be in the police departments employ in the first place.
“Governor J.B. Pritzker doesn’t just allow violent illegal aliens to terrorize Illinois’s communities, he allows illegal aliens to work as sworn police officers,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Radule Bojovic violated our nation’s laws and was living ILLEGALLY in the United States for 10 years — what kind of police department gives criminal illegal aliens badges and guns?”
The arrest is not the first time in recent months that someone in a position of public trust was revealed to be present in the United States illegally.
In September, the Superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district was arrested for allegedly lacking authorization to work in the United States and unlawfully possessing a firearm. The Superintendent was indicted last week by a Des Moines jury last week.
In both cases, the employers of the illegal immigrants claimed they were not aware of their employees immigration status. (RELATED: Politics on Display: Middleton High Assignment Brands Students ‘Nazis’)
“The bottom line is that all information we received from the federal government indicated that Officer Bojovic is legally authorized to work in the United States as a police officer” a statement from the Village of Hanover Park said.
