By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – The immigrant father of a U.S. sailor on board the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which was deployed in the Middle East during the Iran war, was taken into federal immigration detention, the sailor said in a Facebook post.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, originally from Nicaragua, after conducting a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida, a spokesperson of the Department of Homeland Security, of which Border Patrol is a part, separately said on Sunday.
“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,” Joshua Aviles, the son of the detained immigrant, said on Facebook.
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE,” he said on Saturday, adding his father had his driver’s license, social security card and work permit.
“We have done everything through immigration to get his green card approved, and we are just waiting. 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,” the Facebook post added.
The DHS said Luis Manuel Aviles Roa entered the U.S. illegally and would remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention pending removal proceedings.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” the DHS said.
President Donald Trump says his immigration crackdown is aimed at improving domestic security. Rights groups say the crackdown has violated free speech and due process rights and created an unsafe environment, particularly for ethnic minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.
The Lincoln, which left the Middle East on Saturday, did not make a port call in more than 200 days. That set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, according to Democratic lawmakers who called for answers after sailors’ families raised concerns about worsening conditions on the Lincoln.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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