By Rajwa Quasim
The father of a U.S. Navy sailor deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has been detained by federal immigration authorities, his family reported. According to the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa in Key West, Florida, while conducting a vehicle search.
According to his wife, Argelia Aviles, Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested after leaving his home to take his car to a mechanic. She said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, has a permit to work in the United States. Originally from Nicaragua, he has lived in the U.S. for 19 years. She added, “He dedicates himself only to work so he can put food on the table at home. He is a good father. He loves his children with all his soul.”
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According to Joshua Aviles, the son of the immigrant who is deployed in the Middle East amid the Iran war, he said in a Facebook post, “I’ve been deployed for over nine months, out at sea in the Middle East aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, fighting for a country that has given me everything. I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE […] We have done everything through immigration to get his green card approved, and we are just waiting. This is heartbreaking for me. I don’t know how I can mentally continue working 12+ hour days knowing that my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal.”
The Department of Homeland Security defended the detention, saying that having a family member serving in the U.S. military does not provide an exemption from immigration law. The department said Aviles Roa would remain in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility while his case moves forward.
The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration detention policy has flooded federal courts with immigration-related cases. Over the past year, federal judges have ruled against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention policies more than 16,000 times.
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As President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled back protections for military families, concerns have grown over the safety and security of families of service members who are willing to sacrifice for the country. According to the Associated Press, a U.S. soldier’s wife who spent more than a month in federal immigration detention said she is back home after officers removed her from a deportation flight to Brazil. She said she was then asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue to Brazil or return to the U.S.
The case comes amid concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers about deteriorating conditions for the Lincoln crew, which has not made a port call in more than 200 days, setting a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea.