A veteran suburban Chicago police officer was fired Friday after urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to enforce the law and remove illegal immigrants from his community.

The city of Elgin terminated Jason Lentz following an independent investigation into a social media post he made last fall. Lentz went online in October to satirically suggest specific locations where ICE could find illegal immigrants.

He didn’t hold back his frustration with Chicago politicians who refuse to cooperate with the federal law enforcement.

Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley suspended Lentz the day after the posts surfaced and ultimately made the call to fire him.

“Lentz’s termination for misconduct is warranted and necessary to uphold standards the community expects and deserves,” Chie Lalley said.  “His actions do not reflect the standards of this agency. 

“I ask the Elgin community to not judge our current and future officers based on the actions of one individual. The department remains committed to working with all members of the community to build lasting and meaningful relationships grounded in respect, understanding, accountability and trust. These values have not, and will not, change.”

Lentz’s name may be familiar to St. Louisians, as the Elgin Police Department previously fired him in September 2014 over online posts regarding the Ferguson riots.

An arbitrator later overturned the city’s decision and reduced the punishment to a six-month suspension. The ruling reinstated the veteran officer with back pay, full seniority and all other contractual benefits.

Elgin City Manager Rick Kozal wanted him gone in 2014 and supported the latest firing.

“I wholly support Chief Lalley’s decision to terminate Lentz as a police officer,” Kozal said. “I was among those in the city administration demanding Lentz’s firing in 2014 for similar misconduct. 

“While an arbitrator ultimately overturned the city’s decision to fire Lentz and impose a six-month suspension instead, Elgin succeeded in establishing precedent for holding police officers accountable for inflammatory social media posts before such disciplinary action became the norm.”

Lentz applied for a disability pension the same day he was suspended last October. He had been working a light-duty assignment following a 2023 on-duty injury.

The independently operated police pension board approved his disability application in late February. State law says the pension process must remain entirely separate from city disciplinary actions.