ICE Arrests Illegal Immigrant Working as Illinois Police Officer

Immigration officials say a sworn officer working in Hanover Park, Illinois, had overstayed his visa in 2015.

Hanover Police Officer Radule Bojovic (C), an illegal immigrant from Montenegro, was arrested by federal immigration officers on Oct. 16, 2025. U.S. Homeland Security

Federal immigration agents arrested a sworn police officer working in Illinois on Oct. 16, who they say has been in the United States illegally for 10 years.

Radule Bojovic worked for the Hanover Park Police Department, about 35 miles northwest of Chicago, according to the city’s records.

Bojovic, a citizen of Montenegro in southeastern Europe, originally entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa that required him to leave the country on March 31, 2015, federal officials reported.

It is a felony for an illegal immigrant to possess a firearm, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin questioned Illinois’s sanctuary policies that allowed Bojovic to be hired as a police officer.

“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?” McLaughlin said in a statement.

Bojovic was encountered during a targeted enforcement action as part of Operation Midway Blitz, which started on Sept. 8 in Illinois. The operation targets criminal illegal aliens living in the state under its sanctuary policies, according to DHS.

The Hanover Park Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Bojovic and has not publicly released a statement.

The department’s police chief, Andrew Johnson, said in June that his officers “do not participate in immigration enforcement activities or investigations.”

“Our officers do not detain anyone based solely on their immigration status or provide any other assistance to immigration agents related to immigration investigations,” Johnson wrote on social media on June 10.

The department celebrated Bojovic in an X post when he graduated on Aug. 22 from law enforcement academy. From there, he started 15 weeks of field training, according to the department.

City salary data indicate that Bojovic was earning nearly $79,000 a year, plus additional benefits. His 2025 earnings were $205,707, including $9,276 for FICA/Medicare taxes.