Father of USS Lincoln sailor detained by ICE released from detention

The father of a US navy sailor who has been deployed in the Middle East for a record-breaking nine months on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has been released from immigration detention, according to his family.

His arrest sparked intense backlash after the Associated Press reported that his son was entering his ninth month on the Lincoln with the navy when his father was detained. The carrier had just set a US military record for uninterrupted time at sea and has raised concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among those serving onboard.

Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was arrested on Saturday after leaving his house to take his car to the mechanic, according to his wife, Argelia. She said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, had a permit to work in the US. Originally from Nicaragua, he has lived in the US for 19 years.

Aviles’s arrest was the latest in a string of high-profile immigration arrests of the immediate family members of enlisted US soldiers as part of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Elected officials recently launched a congressional investigation into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) practice.

Aviles’s son, Joshua, posted on Facebook on Tuesday that his father had been released from federal immigration custody. An immigration judge dismissed Aviles’s case on Monday, just hours after he was booked into an immigration detention center in Miami, according to Department of Justice records.

The DHS didn’t offer comment to clarify why Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested – or subsequently released.

Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney for military families, called the rapid succession of filed and dismissed charges “super unusual”.

Joshua said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he had been working 12-hour days without a break since the USS Abraham Lincoln left US shores in November. The US navy confirmed that Aviles is enlisted and serves onboard the Lincoln, where his physically demanding duties include moving aircraft on the ship.

The troubled vessel is in the process of being relieved in the Middle East by the USS George Washington.