Welcome Home, Sailor. Thank You for Your Service!

 

by Pa Rock

US Veteran

A week ago yesterday I used this space to talk about the deplorable living and work conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an American aircraft carrier that has been at sea over nine months and has not has a port call in over eight months.  Moral aboard that mighty vessel, which was then stationed in the Middle East, was so low that sailors were writing home and alerting their families to the awful circumstances they were enduring.  The families took their concerns to members of Congress and the press, and enough pressure was exerted on the Defense Department and Trump administration that the USS Abraham Lincoln was ordered home and is currently en route back to the United States.

The sailors aboard that aircraft carrier have been treated badly, and they are deserving of our respect and gratitude upon their return home.  They are not deserving of remarks by whiney politicians who say their deployment was not long enough, nor are they deserving of racist attacks by our government upon their loved ones who have been anxiously awaiting their return.

On Saturday Joshua Aviles, a sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln issued the following statement on Facebook regarding his father, Luis Manuel Aviles, a native of Nicaragua:

"I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE.  If you know my dad, you know that he is a hardworking, humble man who is always willing to help anyone if he can."

The day after that Facebook post, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the US Border Patrol had arrested the father at a routine traffic stop in Key West

The sailor's father has lived in the United States 19 years and has been employed in construction in Key West, Florida.  He has an American driver's license, social security card, and work permit.    He is currently involved in the process of getting a green card.  The senior Mr. Alviles is believed to be somewhere in ICE detention.

The sailor's Facebook post continued:

"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 continue working 12+ hour days knowing that my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal."

Sailor Aviles and his shipmates know full well what it feels like to be confined and treated like criminals.  They should not have to also worry about their families back home being targeted by the government and treated like criminals while they, the generation in uniform, are overseas working night and day to maintain freedom for the entire nation.

Welcome home, sailor.  Thank you for your service.