While on an extended nine-month deployment in the Middle East aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Navy sailor Joshua Aviles received a phone call from home that turned his world upside down.
Federal immigration agents in Key West, Florida, pulled over his father, Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, during a routine traffic stop as he drove to a mechanic. Minutes later, the elder Aviles was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and processed for deportation.
The news hit the sailor during one of the grueling 12-hour shifts that have defined his crew’s record-setting stretch at sea—a deployment already strained by extended operations and shipboard challenges.
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE,” Aviles wrote in a candid Facebook post that rapidly circulated online. “If you know my dad, you know he is a hardworking, humble man… 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 family members, Luis Manuel Aviles Roa fled Nicaragua nearly 20 years ago and has lived in the U.S. ever since, working as a local handyman. While he lacks a criminal record, possesses a driver’s license, and holds an active work permit, he was waiting on a pending green card application when Border Patrol made the arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed Roa’s detention, stating he entered the country without authorization and will remain in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.
DHS officials held a firm line regarding the arrest:
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “We are simply enforcing the laws passed by Congress.”
For service families, the case highlights an intensifying debate over federal deportation directives. Historically, military relatives often qualified for administrative relief or stay-of-removal protections—options that have narrowed significantly under current enforcement priorities.
The emotional fallout comes at a fragile moment for the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew. The aircraft carrier has remained deployed past 250 days, marking one of the longest continuous operational stretches for a Navy carrier in recent memory. Crew members have reported intense fatigue, supply constraints, and prolonged separations from home.
Aviles’ sister, Katherine Delgado, noted that her brother enlisted partly in hopes that his military service would offer his father a clear path to legal residency so he could stop “living in fear.”
“He’s supposed to come home soon,” Delgado said, referring to news that the carrier will eventually conclude its Middle East deployment. “And he’s gonna come home without his father.”
Despite the crushing news, Aviles expressed pride in his unit’s mission—balancing his love for his family with his commitment to the uniform. Still, as he works through 12-hour shifts thousands of miles from Florida, his primary focus remains on his father’s release.
