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The Chicago suburb says the officer had a valid work permit and passed an FBI background check
DHS claims the official overstayed his tourist visa
Information in DHS press releases is often disputed
CHICAGO, Oct 17 (Reuters) – A suburban Chicago police officer who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday was legally authorized to work in the U.S. and had completed a full FBI background check, according to the Village of Hanover Park, where he was employed. Radule Bojovic, who was born in Montenegro, was arrested “during a targeted law enforcement operation,” according to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security. DHS said Bojovic was in the country illegally after overstaying his B2 tourist visa more than 10 years ago.
But a statement from the Village of Hanover Park later Thursday said its police department had received a work authorization card for Bojovic from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that was recently renewed. The village also said Bojovic has successfully completed background checks with the FBI and Illinois State Police. “The bottom line is that all of the information we received from the federal government indicated that Officer Bojovic was legally authorized to work in the United States as a law enforcement officer. Obviously, without that authorization, the village would not have hired him,” the statement said.
Bojovic was being held in immigration custody Friday morning at the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana, according to ICE’s online detainer locator. A statement from the village said Bojovic was placed on administrative leave during his immigration proceedings and that he would return to duty if he is allowed to remain in the U.S. legally.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration launched its federal immigration enforcement crackdown in the Chicago area last month, about 1,500 people have been arrested, according to DHS.
The use of tear gas and other chemical munitions by federal immigration agents to disperse crowds during arrests is increasingly coming under scrutiny from civic leaders and residents. Some, including Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, have also questioned the veracity of statements issued by DHS about the incidents. Earlier this month, DHS charged Marimar Martinez with driving her car into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood before agents shot her multiple times. Martinez survived the shooting and was subsequently charged with obstructing a federal officer. But her attorney says body camera footage shows federal agents crashing into Martinez’s car. And on September 12, DHS issued a press statement that an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a Mexican national, during an attempted arrest in Franklin Park, Illinois, because the man drove his car at the agents, injuring one and causing him to fear for his life. Body camera footage later showed the agent saying the injury was “nothing serious.”
In a court filing from a lawsuit filed by protesters and journalists over the use of force by ICE agents, government lawyers said Friday was the last day of Chicago ICE Field Director Russell Hott, who oversaw law enforcement operations in the city. On Thursday, a US judge ordered Hott to appear for a hearing on Monday to answer questions about a series of incidents in which ICE agents used tear gas against protesters despite a court order requiring them to give warnings first.
Hott, formerly ICE’s top official in Washington, DC, was reassigned in February amid pressure from the Trump administration to dramatically increase the number of arrests of people living in the U.S. illegally. (Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago; Additional reporting by Diana Jones in Chicago; Editing by Emily Schmall and Matthew Lewis)
