USS Lincoln Sailor Fighting 'Two Battles' as ICE Detain Dad: Veterans Group
Newsweek · C · trust 66/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A U.S. service member deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln is now fighting “two battles”, against Iran and immigration enforcement, after his father was detained by federal agents, as the carrier heads home following a more than nine-month deployment.
Joshua Aviles said in a Facebook post on August 22 that his father, Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Aviles said he had been deployed for more than nine months aboard the Abraham Lincoln and was working 12-hour or longer shifts.
The veterans advocacy group Repatriate Our Patriots, which contacted the family to help, said Aviles was facing competing demands of maintaining his military duties while dealing with his father's immigration case.
"Immigrant service members like Joshua Aviles are being asked to fight two battles—one to stay mission-ready and defend our country, and another at home to keep their families together," Danitza Garcia James, president and CEO of Repatriate Our Patriots, told Newsweek .
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE,” Aviles wrote on Facebook, describing his father as hardworking and saying the family had been waiting for a decision on his green-card application. He also said his father had a driver's license, Social Security card, and work permit.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek that Border Patrol arrested Aviles Roa, a Nicaraguan national, during a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida, on August 22. DHS said he had entered the United States illegally and would remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws. Military service by an immediate relative does not automatically grant parole, lawful status, or immunity from immigration enforcement," a spokesperson for the agency said.
“We are simply enforcing the laws passed by Congress. This Administration does not pick and choose which laws to enforce," they added.
This detention is among a growing number of cases involving military families caught up i n the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. An Associated Press investigation found that more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump began his second term in January 2025, with at least six deported and one self-deported.
Katty Delgado, Aviles' stepsister, told CBS News that Aviles Roa had been living in the United States for about 20 years and was detained on his way to a mechanic when Border Patrol arrested him.
Garcia James said she spoke by telephone with Delgado on Sunday, August 23.
Garcia James told Newsweek that, based on her understanding, Aviles Roa “did not commit an offense when he was apprehended” and was pursuing legal status through the immigration process.
Garcia James said the case raised questions about how immigration matters involving military families are handled.
“Breaking the promises made to our service members breaks morale and breaks readiness,” she added, adding that military families were not seeking exemptions from immigration law but “fair and expedient processing” of applications.
"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. My dad’s only “crime” was coming to this country to give my siblings and me a better life," Aviles wrote on Facebook.
The Abraham Lincoln and its roughly 5,000 crew members left the Middle East on August 22, beginning a several-week journey back to the United States after an unusually long deployment. The carrier spent more than 200 consecutive days at sea without a port visit, prompting lawmakers to raise concerns about conditions and crew morale.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Cristina Diciu.
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