Chaplain launches 'Operation Save Sergio' to call for immigration reform after husband was detained

An Army chaplain is fighting for immigration reform after his husband was detained this week.

Sergio Avila is from Honduras and came to the United States with his uncle when he was 7 years old. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement say Avila was a fugitive and convicted criminal immigrant.

Avila’s husband, Tim Brown, on Sunday announced the Operation Save Sergio Mission. He said he will not stop fighting until there is a path to citizenship for his husband and other immigrants.

Brown and Avila married in January 2017 and obtained a marriage waiver in April. They were reporting to a supervision hearing on Thursday in Charlotte when Avila was detained by ICE agents.

Brown said ICE agents had been showing up more frequently to hearings, but he never imagined they were looking for his husband.

Since Avila was detained, Brown has been doing everything possible to get his husband back home.

“This is about Sergio and saving him and getting home, but this is also bigger than that. We need change and golly we say that so much, we need more than change. We need to not shut up until people hear what we say,” Brown said.

Although Avila is in the United States unlawfully, Brown said it’s the only home he’s ever known and they’ve been working toward citizenship for the past several years.

Brown said he heard from Avila on Sunday and learned he is being detained in Georgia, awaiting a hearing Monday.

ICE officials said in a statement that Avila was detained because of his status as an immigration fugitive and convicted criminal immigrant.

According to Patrick Hatch, an attorney representing Avila and Brown, a removal order was issued in Texas for Avila in 2002 after he did not show up to a court hearing. Hatch on Friday filed a motion to reopen that removal order based on lack of notice of the hearing in 2002 and on Avila's fear of returning to Honduras as a gay man married to a U.S. Special Forces Officer.

The fact that the motion is pending provides an official "stay of removal" for Avila, which means he cannot legally be deported while the case is pending, Hatch said.