ICE Frees Navy Sailor's Father After Outcry
ICE Frees Navy Sailor's Father After Outcry
The News
The father of a U.S. Navy sailor deployed for nine months aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has been released from immigration detention, his family said Tuesday.
Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, a handyman in Key West, Florida, was arrested Saturday as he left his home to take his car to a mechanic, according to his wife, Argelia Aviles. She said her husband holds a valid permit to work in the United States. Originally from Nicaragua, he has lived in the U.S. for 19 years.
His son, Joshua Aviles, posted on Facebook Tuesday that his father was out of federal custody. An immigration judge dismissed the case Monday, only hours after Aviles was booked into an immigration detention center in Miami, according to Department of Justice records.
The Department of Homeland Security did not offer immediate comment Monday or Tuesday explaining why Aviles was arrested and then released.
Timeline
Joshua Aviles deploys aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which leaves U.S. soil.
Luis Manuel Aviles is arrested after leaving his Key West home to take his car to a mechanic. That same day, Joshua Aviles posts on Facebook that he has worked 12-hour days without a break since the ship departed.
Aviles is booked into an immigration detention center in Miami. An immigration judge dismisses his case hours later, according to Justice Department records.
Joshua Aviles announces on Facebook that his father has been released.
Reactions
The arrest drew intense backlash after The Associated Press reported that the sailor was entering his ninth month aboard the Lincoln while his father sat in immigration custody.
Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney who works with military families, called the rapid succession of charges filed and then dismissed "super unusual."
The Navy confirmed that Joshua Aviles is enlisted and serves aboard the Lincoln, where his physically demanding duties include moving aircraft on the ship.
What's Next
DHS has not said whether it will pursue the case further, and it has not explained the arrest or the release.
The Aviles case is the latest in a string of high-profile immigration arrests of immediate family members of enlisted U.S. service members under President Trump's immigration crackdown. Elected officials recently launched a congressional investigation into the DHS practice, which remains open.
The Lincoln is being relieved by another ship so it can return to the United States.
More
The Lincoln set a U.S. military record for uninterrupted time at sea, a deployment that has raised concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among the crew. Joshua Aviles said he has been working 12-hour shifts with no day off since the carrier left in November — the backdrop that turned his father's arrest into a national story within days.
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