HANOVER PARK, Ill. — An Illinois police officer was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, accused of living in the United States unlawfully for nearly a decade, CNN reported.
Radule Bojovic, a Hanover Park police officer and native of Montenegro, was taken into custody during a targeted immigration enforcement operation on Oct. 16, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Officials allege Bojovic overstayed a tourist visa that expired in 2015.
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“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?” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.
McLaughlin added that it is a felony for undocumented immigrants to possess firearms, and called Bojovic “a law enforcement officer who is actively breaking the law.”
Bojovic recently graduated from the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy and had started a 15-week field training program, according to a Hanover Park Police Department Facebook post in August.
Village officials defended the hiring process. At a municipal meeting Thursday evening, Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig said Bojovic was legally authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of his hiring and passed background checks conducted by the FBI and Illinois State Police.
“If Officer Bojovic did not hold federal work authorization, he would not have been hired,” Craig said.
Craig added that the village will monitor Bojovic’s immigration proceedings and that, if he is ultimately allowed to remain in the U.S. and retain legal work status, he will be reinstated to full duty.
Neither Bojovic nor his attorney, if he has one, has publicly commented on the arrest. ICE has not disclosed whether formal removal proceedings have begun.
