The illegal immigrant arrested after allegedly trying to buy a gun provided a Massachusetts driver’s license during the application process to the Maine police department he has been working for, according to officials.

Old Orchard Beach, a resort town of under 9,000 residents, finds itself in a fight with the Department of Homeland Security over the hiring of Jamaican native Jon-Luke Evans.

Town officials say they compiled a 153-page personnel file on Evans that consisted of background check documents and other records after he applied to be a seasonal reserve officer in early April.

Evans is said to have provided a Massachusetts driver’s license to the town’s human resources department as part of his application, along with a Jamaican birth certificate and passport, U.S. Social Security and work authorization cards, and proof of college credit.

“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department thoroughly checked Mr. Evans’ background and verified that all information and documentation he provided was accurate,” Police Chief Elise Chard said. “The depth of his personnel file shows the diligence the Town takes in hiring.”

Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Evans last week in Biddeford, five miles away from Old Orchard Beach, after he allegedly admitted that he tried to buy the gun for his employment as a police officer.

His attempt to purchase the firearm triggered an alert to agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ICE’s Boston field office reported on Monday.

“Jon Luke Evans not only broke U.S. immigration law, but he also illegally attempted to purchase a firearm,” Patricia Hyde, ICE ERO Boston’s acting field office director, said in a statement. “Shockingly, Evans was employed as a local law enforcement officer. The fact that a police department would hire an illegal alien and unlawfully issue him a firearm while on duty would be comical if it weren’t so tragic.

Evans entered the U.S. on Sept. 24, 2023, at Miami International Airport, but he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa, ICE said.

Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. on Oct. 1, 2023, but he never boarded the flight.

The Town of Old Orchard Beach says it followed its “standing hiring policies and procedures” during Evans’ application and “verified that all documentation Evans provided was authentic.”

Town officials are pointing out that Maine is one of more than a dozen states in the U.S. that allow noncitizens to work in law enforcement.

“Simply stated, had the federal government flagged his information, the Town would not have hired Mr. Evans,” Chief Chard said in her statement. “Any insinuation that the Town and Department were derelict in our efforts to verify Mr. Evans’ eligibility to work for the Town is false and appears to be an attempt to shift the blame onto a hard-working local law enforcement agency that has done its job.”

Town officials are butting heads with the Department of Homeland Security over E-Verify, a web system that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the country.

Police Chief Chard said Monday that the town submitted Evans’ I-9 form to DHS through E-Verify, with the feds approving the document on May 12.

Evans was sworn into the department earlier this summer after completing the application process and training requirements.

“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E-Verify to justify arming an illegal alien, Jon Luke Evans, violates federal law,” DHS said in a statement earlier Wednesday, “and does not absolve them of their failure to conduct basic background checks to verify legal status.

“No illegal alien should ever be provided a firearm or serve in law enforcement,” it added, “not only is it the law, it’s also basic common sense.”

Town Manager Diana Asanza responded Wednesday evening, saying the statements from the feds “undermine public trust and confidence in municipal law enforcement.”

“Today, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down on its attack,” she said, “but in doing so has thrown its own electronic verification system into question. If we should not trust the word of the federal computer system that verifies documents and employment eligibility, what good is that system?”