FILE-The USS Abraham Lincoln arrives in San Diego with its crew of sailors manning the rail. (Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
A father was arrested by Border Patrol officers while waiting for his son to return from the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested after leaving his home to take his vehicle to the mechanic, Argelia Aviles, his wife, told The Associated Press.
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The woman said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, has a permit to work in the United States. Luis is from Nicaragua and has lived in the U.S. for 19 years.
Aviles’ arrest comes amid the Trump administration repealing immigration protections for military families as part of its mass deportation efforts, detaining roughly dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops.
Navy sailor responds to his father’s arrest
What they're saying:
The Associated Press reported that Joshua Aviles, Luis’s son, wrote in a Facebook post on Aug. 22 that he was still on the USS Lincoln "fighting for a country that has given me everything" when he got a call about his father's detention on Saturday morning.
"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 treated like a criminal," Joshua Aviles wrote.
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Katherine Delgado, Joshua Aviles' sister, shared with the AP that Joshua joined the military in part because he thought it would improve his dad’s chances of getting U.S. citizenship and so that he would "no longer be living in fear of being arrested."
The other side:
In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security said that Border Patrol agents arrested Luis Aviles on Saturday in Key West and that he will remain in ICE custody while the government seeks to deport him.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, which cites comments from Luis Manuel Aviles’ wife and daughter, his son’s Facebook post, and a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.