A Navy sailor came home from war. Her deported father could only greet her at the border

Jessica Martinez was welcomed home by cheering crowds as the USS Abraham Lincoln docked in San Diego earlier this month after a long wartime deployment to the Middle East. She was safe, she was healthy, and she had been promoted to a non-commissioned officer.

But all she could say when she finally hugged her father a few days later was, “I’m sorry.”

Humberto Martinez was deported to Mexico while his daughter was deployed and, somehow, she felt she had failed him.

It was one of the more complicated homecomings for the thousands of crew of the Lincoln strike group, but not unique. The father of Jessica’s shipmate, Joshua Aviles, also was detained by immigration agents, before later being released, according to his family. The Associated Press reported in August that more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty military personnel had been detained and some deported in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Joining the military had been Jessica’s dream since middle school, partly for the experiences she would get, but also to help put her parents on a path to legal status. Jessica and her sister, Ana, are natural born US citizens, but her parents had lived in California after they entered unlawfully.

“I wanted to give my parents the world because they gave me the world,” she said.

Jessica said she did well on the Lincoln, becoming a skilled handler of the armaments and missiles of the massive aircraft carrier. She said she was happy to send money home and was gratified that her parents were able to apply for Parole in Place — which can defer deportation for family members of active service personnel, among others, and can lead to legal permanent residency.

Courtesy of Jessica Martinez

She was aboard the Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on January 31 when federal agents arrested her father near the family’s apartment in Huntington Beach, California. Humberto had noticed law enforcement was tailing him and had pulled his truck over to the side of the road. Ana filmed as agents handcuffed her father, calling out that he had applied to legalize his status. He was deported the same day.

At the time, the Department of Homeland Security said Humberto was “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico previously convicted of DUI and unauthorized use of a vehicle” who had been removed from the United States four times before.

As the deployment ramped up, she felt like giving up, Jessica told CNN. But it was her father who told her to keep going, even as he was having to deal with his new reality of being split from his family, his home, and his work laying hardwood floors.

“You have to keep going; you’re a badass,” she recalled him saying to her. “You can do it — do it for me.”

Jessica, 22, fared better than some of her shipmates during the deployment when the Lincoln set a modern record for consecutive days at sea and where there were complaints of poor conditions and mental health strains.

And,there was always the light at the end of the tunnel: getting back home.

The Lincoln docked on October 8, under a cloudless blue sky in San Diego, disgorging its crew to the arms of their loved ones.

But as Jessica, in her crisp dress whites, set foot again on home soil, neither her mother nor her father were there.

Instead, Ana, 19, was the welcoming committee. Since their father was deported, she had become the head of the family — helping their mother, who is too nervous to leave home except for work, and cheering on her sister at war.

As she waited on the pier, decorating a poster, Ana was excited to see her sister and ready to keep being the glue that held everyone together.

That crumbled the moment she saw Jessica.

The tension of the last nine months and the tears came pouring through as they hugged. Ana again became the younger sister being comforted by Jessica.

Three-and-a-half hours through traffic took the sisters home, for another reunion, another piece of the family put back together with a very, very long embrace from their mom, Nancy.

But for Jessica, reaching her childhood home in Huntington Beach spurred reminders of what was missing.

“Seeing where he used to sit at, seeing his clothes,” she said of her dad. “The first homecoming that I had, he was here. He was able to receive me in his arms, and today it was different.”

She made a video call to him, to bring him to the celebration. For a while, neither could speak through their tears.

That evening, she contemplated her service to her country, and the government’s immigration action on her family.

“I do feel disappointed, but at the same time, I did this for my family and to show that … we don’t come from criminals like they say,” Jessica said. “They say that my dad is a criminal and everything, but he raised a warrior.”

Two days later, under a sky the gray of a Navy ship, Jessica and Ana returned to San Diego, walked to the international border and passed through a heavy metal gate into Mexico.

Ana waved and said, “Hi, Dad!” when she saw Humberto. Jessica held tightly onto the straps of her backpack, holding back her emotions. Then the tears came as her father took her into his arms. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Not your fault,” he reassured her.

Humberto wore a USS Abraham Lincoln hoodie, and he swapped his Yankees ballcap for a Lincoln cap that Jessica had brought him as a gift. He told CNN he is continuing his legal appeals to return to the United States.

In an updated statement to CNN, DHS made new allegations against him.

“Humberto Martinez is a criminal illegal alien from Mexico with convictions for DUI and drug offenses, and arrests for false citizenship and human smuggling. He has been previously removed from the United States on at least six separate occasions with each illegal re-entry being a felony offense. He was most recently arrested by ICE on January 31, 2026, and was returned home to Mexico the same day,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in an email.

“Mr. Martinez has repeatedly disrespected and made a mockery of our nation’s laws. His lawyer can file as many appeals as he would like, but he’d be wasting his time — Mr. Martinez is NEVER going to be welcomed back into the United States.” CNN requested clarification on the new issues raised against Humberto but has not yet received a response.

Humberto still speaks of the United States with gratitude. “It gave me the opportunity to raise a family … and to work hard there to help them grow,” he said. He acknowledges he has crossed the border illegally, and completed education and community service after a DUI conviction that he said was classed as a misdemeanor. He told CNN the other allegations from the government were “lies.”

In Tijuana, he said: “I’m feeling good. I got to see my sailor back home. The thing is, I’m not home, so it’s very hard.”

With her dad finally by her side, Jessica said the deportation felt like “a stab in the back,” even as she remains proud of the military and her service.

Soon it will be time for her to move on. At the end of her four-year contract, she plans to leave the Navy and attend college like her little sister.

“I’m going to keep fighting,” she said. “I’m going to find justice for my dad for him to come back.”

CNN’s Norma Galeana reported from San Diego, Huntington Beach, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. Rachel Clarke wrote in Atlanta.

本月初，在结束了漫长的中东战时部署后，美国海军“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航空母舰停靠在圣地亚哥港，杰西卡·马丁内斯受到了欢呼雀跃的人群的热烈欢迎。她平安无事，身体健康，并且被晋升为士官。

但几天后，当她终于拥抱父亲时，她只能说：“对不起。”

温贝托·马丁内斯被遣返回墨西哥，而他的女儿则被派往海外服役，不知何故，她觉得自己辜负了他。

对于林肯号航母打击群的数千名船员来说，这是他们返乡经历中最复杂的一次，但并非个例。据其家人透露，杰西卡的战友约书亚·阿维莱斯的父亲也曾被移民官员拘留，后获释。美联社8月份报道称，在唐纳德·特朗普总统的第二个任期内，已有超过50名现役军人的父母和配偶被拘留，其中一些人被驱逐出境。

从中学起，参军就是杰西卡的梦想，部分原因是她渴望获得各种经历，但也希望能帮助父母获得合法身份。杰西卡和她的妹妹安娜都是美国公民，但她的父母非法入境后一直居住在加利福尼亚州。

“我想把全世界都给我的父母，因为他们给了我全世界，”她说。

杰西卡说她在林肯号航母上表现出色，熟练地操作着这艘巨型航母上的武器和导弹。她说她很高兴能寄钱回家，也欣慰她的父母能够申请“就地假释”（Parole in Place）——这项政策可以为现役军人家属等群体暂缓遣返，并有可能最终获得永久居留权。

图片由杰西卡·马丁内斯提供

1月31日，安娜乘坐“林肯”号邮轮在阿拉伯海航行时，联邦特工在加州亨廷顿海滩的公寓附近逮捕了她的父亲。亨伯托发现执法人员跟踪他，便将卡车停在了路边。安娜拍摄了特工给父亲戴上手铐的画面，并大声喊道，他已经申请了合法身份。当天，他就被遣返了。

当时，国土安全部表示，亨伯托是“来自墨西哥的非法移民罪犯，曾因酒后驾车和未经授权使用车辆而被定罪”，此前曾四次被驱逐出美国。

杰西卡告诉CNN，随着部署工作的推进，她一度想要放弃。但她的父亲鼓励她坚持下去，即便他自己也不得不面对与家人、家园和铺设硬木地板的工作岗位分离的现实。

“你必须坚持下去；你很厉害，”她回忆起他当时对她说的话。“你能做到——为了我，做到。”

22 岁的杰西卡在林肯号航母的部署期间，比她的一些同伴过得要好。当时林肯号创造了现代连续海上航行天数的纪录，但也有人抱怨条件恶劣和精神健康压力。

而且，隧道尽头总有光亮：那就是回家。

10月8日，林肯号在圣地亚哥万里无云的蓝天下靠岸，船员们纷纷下船，投入亲人的怀抱。

但当身着洁白连衣裙的杰西卡再次踏上故土时，她的父母都不在身边。

相反，19岁的安娜成了迎接大家的队伍。自从父亲被驱逐出境后，她就成了家里的顶梁柱——照顾着除了工作以外不敢出门的母亲，还要为在前线作战的妹妹加油鼓劲。

安娜在码头上等待时，一边装饰海报，一边兴奋地期待着见到她的姐姐，并准备继续做维系大家团结的纽带。

当她看到杰西卡的那一刻，一切都崩溃了。

过去九个月的紧张情绪在她们拥抱时爆发，泪水夺眶而出。安娜再次变成了被杰西卡安慰的妹妹。

姐妹俩花了三个半小时才穿过拥堵的车流回到家，又一次团聚，又一个家庭重新团聚，妈妈南希给了她们一个非常非常长的拥抱。

但对杰西卡来说，回到她在亨廷顿海滩的童年故居，却让她想起了自己缺失的东西。

“看到他以前坐的地方，看到他的衣服，”她谈到父亲时说。“我第一次回家时，他就在这里。他能把我拥入怀中，而今天却不一样了。”

她给他打了个视频电话，想让他也来参加庆祝活动。两人一时之间泪流满面，说不出话来。

那天晚上，她思考着自己为国家做出的贡献，以及政府对她家人采取的移民行动。

“我确实感到失望，但同时，我这样做是为了我的家人，也是为了证明……我们不像他们说的那样是罪犯的后裔，”杰西卡说。“他们说我父亲是罪犯什么的，但他培养了一个战士。”

两天后，在如同海军舰艇般灰蒙蒙的天空下，杰西卡和安娜返回圣地亚哥，步行到国际边界，穿过一道沉重的金属大门进入墨西哥。

安娜看到温贝托时，挥了挥手，喊道：“嗨，爸爸！”杰西卡紧紧抓住书包带，努力压抑着自己的情绪。父亲把她抱进怀里时，她终于忍不住流下了眼泪。“对不起，”她说。“这不是你的错，”父亲安慰道。

温贝托穿着一件印有“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航空母舰图案的连帽衫，他把自己的洋基队棒球帽换成了杰西卡送给他的林肯纪念帽。他告诉CNN，他正在继续通过法律途径争取返回美国。

美国国土安全部在向 CNN 发表的最新声明中，对他提出了新的指控。

“亨伯托·马丁内斯是一名来自墨西哥的非法移民，曾因酒后驾车和毒品犯罪被定罪，并因伪造公民身份和人口走私被捕。他此前至少六次被美国驱逐出境，每次非法入境都构成重罪。他最近一次被美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）逮捕是在2026年1月31日，当天就被遣返回墨西哥，”美国国土安全部发言人在一封电子邮件中写道。

“马丁内斯先生屡次藐视并嘲弄我国法律。他的律师可以随意提起上诉，但这都是徒劳——马丁内斯先生永远不会被美国接纳。” CNN已就针对亨伯托提出的新问题请求澄清，但尚未收到回复。

温贝托至今仍对美国充满感激。“它给了我组建家庭的机会……也让我有机会在那里努力工作，帮助他们成长，”他说。他承认自己曾非法越境，并在因酒驾被定罪后完成了学业和社区服务，他表示那次酒驾被归类为轻罪。他告诉CNN，政府的其他指控都是“谎言”。

在蒂华纳，他说：“我感觉很好。我见到了家乡的水手。问题是，我不在家，所以这很难熬。”

杰西卡终于在父亲的陪伴下，她说被驱逐出境感觉就像“背后被人捅了一刀”，尽管她仍然为军队和自己的服役经历感到自豪。

不久之后，她就该离开了。四年合同期满后，她计划离开海军，像妹妹一样上大学。

“我会继续抗争，”她说。“我会为我爸爸讨回公道，让他回来。”

CNN记者诺玛·加莱亚纳分别从圣地亚哥、加利福尼亚州亨廷顿海滩和墨西哥蒂华纳报道。瑞秋·克拉克从亚特兰大发回报道。