ICE Arrests Illegal Immigrant Serving as Police Officer in Chicago Suburb

Bojovic’s arrest was part of a broader federal crackdown targeting sanctuary cities like Chicago.

Published: 10/16/2025, 4:02:49 PM EDT

ICE Arrests Illegal Immigrant Serving as Police Officer in Chicago Suburb — Hanover Park Police Officer Radule Bojovic, an illegal immigrant from Montenegro, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS)

A Hanover Park police officer accused of living in the United States illegally has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Radule Bojovic, a native of Montenegro, entered the United States on a tourist visa that expired on March 31, 2015, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Bojovic overstayed his visa and remained in the country for more than a decade, DHS said in an emailed statement to NTD.

"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," said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "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 noted that the Hanover Park Police Department violated federal law by authorizing an illegal alien to carry a firearm in violation of federal law.

"It’s a felony for aliens to even possess a firearm — a law enforcement officer who is actively breaking the law," she said. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is restoring law and order. Criminal illegal aliens have no place in our communities, especially on our police forces."

Upon his arrest, Bojovic provided his employee identification card that confirmed he works as a Hanover Park Police officer. DHS also said Bojovic admitted that he did not have any firearms on him because he's only authorized to carry his weapon while on duty.

“Illegal aliens are prohibited from owning or possessing firearms — full stop,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Sam Olson said in a statement. “This is the second known instance in recent months of a local police department hiring an illegal alien and unlawfully issuing him a firearm while on duty in violation of federal law. It is alarming how local jurisdictions continue to disregard federal law to the detriment of their communities.”

DHS also pointed out that Bojovic was approved by the Pension Fund Board of Trustees in January 2025. According to Hanover Park Police Department records, he was eligible to receive a starting salary of $78,955.70. Other records indicate Bojovic’s 2025 earnings cost taxpayers $205,707, including $9,276 for FICA/Medicare taxes.

In August, the Hanover Police Department shared a social media post congratulating Bojovic for his recent graduation from the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, noting that he was going through “an intensive 15 weeks of field training and evaluation” to prepare to serve the community.

NTD reached out to the department but did not receive an immediate response.

Bojovic’s arrest was part of a broader federal crackdown targeting sanctuary cities like Chicago.

Operation Midway Blitz was launched in September to target criminal illegal immigrants in the Chicago area in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run crash caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.

Pritzker has pushed back against the Trump administration's crackdown on crime and illegal immigration in the city and state, accusing the president of stoking fear in communities and overreaching his authority.

The governor has sued Trump to block the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. Pritzker wrote in a post on X that ICE was an “out-of-control danger” to peaceful communities, further referring to their enforcement operations as “unchecked attacks” on Chicago residents.

Tensions have since escalated between federal immigration agents and protestors.

On Thursday, a judge ordered federal immigration officers in the Chicago area to wear body cameras and also summoned a senior official to court next week to discuss an enforcement operation that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests.