Sailor's Father Detained Amid Deployment
PHOTO CAPTION: The U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln sails in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 3, 2026. U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS
The father of a U.S. Navy sailor serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln was taken into federal immigration custody Saturday while his son was still finishing one of the Navy’s longest deployments in recent memory.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa during a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida, according to the Department of Homeland Security. His son, Joshua Aviles, said he learned of the arrest while still aboard the Lincoln after more than nine months deployed to the Middle East.
“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,” Joshua wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.
Joshua said his father had a driver’s license, Social Security card and work permit and that the family had been working through the immigration process while awaiting approval of his green-card application.
DHS offered a different view of his father’s immigration status.
The department said Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, originally from Nicaragua, entered the United States illegally and will remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody while the government seeks to deport him.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” DHS said Sunday, adding that the administration does not choose which immigration laws to enforce.
Aviles Roa’s family says he has lived in the United States for roughly two decades and has no criminal record. His wife told The Associated Press that he works as a handyman in Key West and was on his way to take his vehicle to a mechanic when he was arrested.
The detention came as his son was finally nearing the end of an extraordinary deployment aboard the Lincoln.
Joshua said he has been working shifts exceeding 12 hours for more than 250 days. The carrier spent more than 200 consecutive days at sea without a port call, a modern-era Navy record that prompted lawmakers and military families to raise concerns about the physical and mental strain on its roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines.
The Lincoln departed San Diego in November 2025 and remained deployed far longer than originally expected as operations connected to the Iran war intensified.
The carrier left the Middle East over the weekend after the USS George Washington arrived to relieve it, but the Lincoln and its crew still face a voyage of several weeks before returning home.
Joshua said learning about his father’s detention while still deployed has made it difficult to remain focused on his work.
“This is heartbreaking for me,” he wrote. “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.”
His sister, Katherine Delgado, told CBS News that Joshua has struggled with sleeping and eating since learning his father was detained. She said her brother joined the military in part because he believed his service might help his father eventually secure legal status.
The family had also been anticipating the reunion between father and son after the prolonged deployment.
Aviles Roa’s wife told AP that her husband had been waiting for Joshua to return and became increasingly distressed as the deployment stretched beyond its expected duration.
The case is part of a broader issue facing some military families under the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement campaign.
AP has documented dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty service members detained by immigration authorities, including at least six who were deported.
Military families have access to an immigration program known as parole in place, which can allow certain parents, spouses and children of active-duty service members, veterans and some other military personnel to pursue legal status without leaving the United States.
Eligibility is not automatic, however, and the program does not protect every military family member from immigration enforcement.
The Pentagon referred questions about Joshua Aviles’ case to the Navy. The Navy had not publicly commented on the situation as of Sunday afternoon.
For Joshua, the arrest has created another source of uncertainty at the end of an already historic deployment: after spending more than nine months serving aboard the Lincoln, he does not know whether his father will still be in the United States when he finally gets home.
(Source: OAF Nation)
