A case out of New Orleans is exposing just how broken the immigration system has become, and how even basic law enforcement safeguards can fail when federal rules are ignored or papered over. A New Orleans Police Department recruit was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after authorities determined he was in the country illegally and should never have been carrying a badge, or a gun, in the first place.
The recruit, Larry Temah, 46, originally from Cameroon, was enrolled in the NOPD police academy and was just one week away from graduation when ICE arrested him. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Temah entered the United States legally in 2015 on a visitor visa and later obtained conditional residency through marriage to a U.S. citizen. That status did not last.
In 2022, Temah’s application for a green card was denied on grounds of fraud. After that denial, he was ordered to appear in immigration court three separate times. He did not show up once. As a result, an immigration judge in Georgia issued a removal order in absentia on December 5 of last year. From that point forward, Temah was not lawfully present in the United States.
That matters for more than paperwork reasons. ICE noted that Temah did not have valid work authorization and, under federal law, was prohibited from possessing a firearm. Despite that, he was issued a gun as part of his police academy training. That is not a gray area. For someone in his status, possessing a firearm is a felony.
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the department learned of the arrest the morning it happened and emphasized there was no incident or struggle during the arrest. She explained that Temah applied to the department in June 2025, presented a valid driver’s license and Social Security number, had lived in the U.S. for roughly a decade, and passed all required background checks, including E Verify.
That explanation is not reassuring. It is alarming.
E Verify and surface level checks are only as good as the data fed into them, and this case shows how someone with a final removal order can still slip through the cracks and end up nearly graduating from a police academy. This was not a paperwork intern job. This was a sworn law enforcement role with arrest powers and a firearm.
Temah is now in ICE custody awaiting removal proceedings, where he should have been months ago. The incident has triggered discussions between NOPD and ICE about improving coordination to flag similar cases in the future. That discussion is long overdue.
This episode cuts through a lot of political noise. Immigration enforcement is not about demonizing people. It is about following the law and protecting public safety. When someone who ignored court orders, lacked legal status, and was barred from possessing a gun can almost become a police officer, the system is not just broken, it is dangerous.
ICE did its job here. The question is how many similar cases have not been caught yet, and how many departments are relying on systems that give the illusion of security instead of the real thing.
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