ICE Arrests New Orleans Police Recruit Larry Temah Over Immigration Status
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Larry Temah, a 46-year-old recruit for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), just one week before his scheduled graduation from the police academy. Federal authorities detained Temah, a national of Cameroon, on January 28, 2026, citing an active deportation order and violations of federal firearms laws associated with his immigration status.
According to federal records, Temah originally entered the United States in 2015 on a visitor visa. He was granted conditional residency in 2016 after marrying a U.S. citizen. However, officials report that his application for permanent residency was denied in 2022 due to allegations of fraud. Following the denial, Temah reportedly failed to appear for three separate immigration court hearings, leading a judge to issue a removal order in December 2025.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly criticized the NOPD’s recruitment process, noting that it is a felony for an individual with unauthorized immigration status to possess a firearm. In a statement regarding the arrest, DHS officials questioned how a law enforcement agency could recruit and arm an individual with an active deportation order. Critics of the department’s hiring practices have pointed to this incident as a failure of “sanctuary city” policies, arguing that local protocols protecting non-citizens from federal immigration scrutiny compromise public safety and undermine the integrity of the police force.
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick defended the department’s vetting process, stating that Temah had passed all standard background checks, including a review by the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the federal E-Verify system. Kirkpatrick asserted that at the time of his hiring in June 2025, the department received no indication that Temah lacked legal status. “There was nothing in the packet that would have given us reason to believe that this person did not have legal status,” Kirkpatrick told reporters, suggesting that the discrepancies in his file may have developed or been flagged in federal systems only after his recruitment began. Temah remains in federal custody pending removal proceedings.
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