Customs and Border Protection detained multiple cruise ship workers at the Port of San Diego during disney cruise line dockings in late April, then cancelled the visas of 28 subjects and sent them back to their countries of citizenship. One passenger, Dharmi Mehta, said she filmed officers taking Disney Cruise employees off the ship while they were still in uniform.
CBP said it boarded eight cruise ships between April 23 and April 27 as part of ongoing Child Sexual Exploitation Material enforcement operations. The agency said it interviewed 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one from Portugal and one from Indonesia, and said 27 of the 28 subjects were involved in receipt, possession, transportation, distribution or viewing of CSEM or child pornography.
Dharmi Mehta at the Dock
Mehta was aboard the Disney Magic when she saw at least four CBP officers detaining several Disney Cruise employees while the ship was docked and passengers were disembarking. She said the employees were still in uniform when they were walked off the vessel. “It wasn't until they turned around that you could read the back where it says Customs and Border, but it still said, you know, police or officer,” she said.
“He was full in uniform, which was in a blazer, tie. Some of the other employees were still in their chef's uniforms with their name tags on it,” Mehta said of the workers she saw being taken away. Her account is the clearest passenger-side record in the available facts and puts a face on what CBP described as a broader enforcement action at the port.
Operation Tidal Wave
HSI San Diego said on April 28 that it arrested twenty-three crewmembers from multiple cruise ships at the Port of San Diego as part of Operation Tidal Wave. HSI said the arrests targeted people suspected of involvement with Child Sexual Abuse Material based on information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
HSI also said the arrestees were transported to Los Angeles for processing and their visas were revoked. CBP separately said, “CBP cancelled their visas and these criminals have been returned to their country of citizenship.”
Union Del Barrio Accounts
Union Del Barrio said about 10 Disney employees were detained by CBP on April 23, and four employees from a Holland America ship were detained two days later on April 25. Benjamin Prado, speaking for the group, said, “It is our responsibility as society, as working people, to really denounce these actions by Customs and Border Protection,” at a press conference.
The two agency accounts and the passenger video point to the same operation from different angles: cruise workers were pulled from ships at San Diego, visas were cancelled, and at least some were moved out of the country. For passengers and crew, the immediate practical effect is already clear — the people removed from the ships did not remain in the United States after the detentions.
