While serving overseas on an extended deployment, a U.S. Navy sailor received news that hit closer to home than any mission parameter.
Joshua Aviles, currently deployed in the Middle East aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, revealed over the weekend that federal immigration officials arrested his father in Florida. The news comes during the sailor’s ninth month at sea—a deployment already marred by reports of severe mental strain, grueling shifts, and shipboard supply shortages.
In a candid Facebook post that quickly gained widespread attention, Aviles detailed the moment he learned his father, Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, had been taken into custody.
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE,” Aviles wrote. “If you know my dad, you know he is a hardworking, humble man who is always willing to help anyone… 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.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol agents arrested the elder Aviles—a native of Nicaragua who has lived in the U.S. for roughly 20 years—during a traffic stop in Key West, Florida, as he was heading to a mechanic. DHS confirmed he remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody facing deportation proceedings, citing that he entered the country illegally.
While the department did not dispute claims that the father lacks a criminal record or that he had a pending immigration application, DHS officials issued a firm stance:
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” DHS said in a statement on Sunday. “We are simply enforcing the laws passed by Congress.”
For military families, the incident underscores a growing tension surrounding immigration enforcement policies under the current administration, which has ramped up mass deportation efforts without exempting relatives of active-duty service members.
The timing could hardly be tougher for the crew. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for over 250 days, marking one of the longest continuous carrier deployments in recent history. Crew members have reportedly faced 12-hour workdays, food rationing, broken amenities, and mounting exhaustion as the ship participated in regional operations.
While the carrier recently departed the Middle East to begin its multi-week transit back to the United States, Aviles’ family says the homecoming will be bittersweet.
“He’s supposed to come home soon,” said Katty Delgado, Aviles’ half-sister, who noted her brother had been struggling with sleep and stress even before the arrest. “And he’s gonna come home without his father.”
Despite the turmoil, Aviles expressed unwavering love for both his family and his service, noting that he spent nine months “out at sea in the Middle East… fighting for a country that has given me everything.” Still, his focus remains firmly on getting his father back home.
