Get you up to speed: U.S. Navy sailor on USS Lincoln says dad was arrested by immigration officials
Luis Manuel Aviles Roa was arrested by Border Patrol during a traffic stop in Key West, Florida, on Saturday for entering the U.S. illegally. He remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, facing deportation proceedings.
Luis Manuel Aviles Roa remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, facing deportation proceedings following his arrest during a traffic stop in Key West. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for over nine months, recently left the Middle East and is expected to return to the U.S. in several weeks.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest of Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, stating he entered the U.S. illegally and remains in custody facing deportation proceedings. This incident reflects a broader trend of increasing immigration enforcement actions affecting military families, as noted by DHS officials who emphasised that military affiliation does not exempt individuals from legal consequences.
What remains unclear — It is not specified when Luis Manuel Aviles Roa will face deportation proceedings.
Navy sailor Joshua Aviles reports father’s arrest by immigration officials
U.S. Navy sailor Joshua Aviles said he learned his father was arrested by federal immigration officials while on his ninth month aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been at the center of reports of mental health challenges and subpar conditions faced by service members.
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE. If you know my dad, you know he is a hardworking, humble man who is always willing to help anyone if he can,” Aviles wrote in a Facebook post this weekend.
“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,” he added.
Asked by WTX US News about the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, a native of Nicaragua, was arrested by Border Patrol during a traffic stop in Key West, Florida, on Saturday, saying he entered the U.S. illegally. The department said Aviles remained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, facing deportation proceedings.
DHS did not dispute the family’s statements that Aviles lacks a criminal record, but said that “(h)aving a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws.”
“We are simply enforcing the laws passed by Congress,” the department said in a statement Sunday. “This Administration does not pick and choose which laws to enforce.”
Aviles’ arrest is the latest immigration enforcement operation to affect a U.S. military family over the past year and a half.
Historically rare, immigration arrests of military spouses and parents have become more common under the second Trump administration, which rescinded prior limits on arrests by ICE and Border Patrol as part of its mass deportation campaign.
DHS officials have consistently said anyone in the country illegally is vulnerable to being arrested and processed for deportation, even in cases involving military families.
In his Facebook post, Aviles noted the USS Lincoln’s extended deployment in 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,” he wrote.
The aircraft carrier and its roughly 5,000 crew members left the Middle East last week to head back to the U.S., a journey that could take several weeks.