ICE is grabbing Filipino cruise ship employees by the 100s, claiming they accessed child porn, and deporting

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Last edited Fri Jun 5, 2026, 10:35 PM - Edit history (1)

They all get the same charge..that they had a link to a child porn site on the phone. The trump administration hasn't shown proof to anyone

Why? Easy pickings to increase deportation numbers? The ships come into port, ice boards and grabs an easy to deport group.

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2026/05/articles/crew-work-conditions-rights/over-200-deported-foreign-crew-members-u-s-federal-immigration-agents-continue-to-strip-cruise-workers-of-their-due-process-rights/

Agents from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stormed the Disney Magic after it docked in San Diego late last month, detaining 10 crew members, most of whom were led from the Disney cruise ship with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

Last November, we reported that 200 crew members have been accused of possessing CSAM. Around 20 were arrested and prosecuted, with around 180 deported. That means less than one crew member in ten are arrested and prosecuted for possession of child pornography; the rest are deported to their home countries.

This raises the obvious question – why did CBP deport over 200 crew members for allegedly viewing CSAM but arrest and prosecute only 20 for the same conduct?

The raid on the Disney ship became widely reported only after a Disney cruise passenger, Dharmi Mehta, who was disembarking the ship with her family, said she was stunned to see the ship’s head waiter led away while shackled. Ms. Mehta recorded the spectacle of Disney ship employees still wearing Disney uniforms on the dock in San Diego as they were manhandled by armed CBP agents into white vans. She told the New Republic that while on the ship, she befriended the head waiter who told her that he has two daughters. She called the sight of cruise workers in uniform with their hands behind their backs, handcuffed and surrounded by Customs and Border Protection officers being pushed into vans “disheartening and unsettling.”

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Benjamin Prado from Union del Barrio. “In fact, it has become a growing pattern, not only here in San Diego but throughout this country.”

[SSJVegeta]

1. Our immigration system needs to be part of the judicial branch

...like yesterday.

This is so fucked up

[erronis]

2. I don't understand how this is a solution or is even effectual.

The judicial branch has almost no control authority. Most all actions are carried out by the executive branch. You would need to build a new enforcement capability --- with no known capabilities.

And the current "judicial branch" is topped by the Supreme Court which is totally under the control of the right-wing which loves these extra-judicial operations.

But totally agree with "this is so fucked up!"

[SSJVegeta]

11. The judicial branch has no say by the federal government to unilaterally prosecute people without a jury

Last edited Fri Jun 5, 2026, 11:45 PM - Edit history (4)

It makes all immigration matters criminal matters and ensures the right that anybody accused of a criminal offense has (which immigrants do not have under the "civil matter" paradox from the scotus ruling of 1892).

This is an op ed by the Dean of Berkeley Law School Erwin Chimerinsky, and sort of explains the rationale:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-04-07/ice-agents-cruel-unusual-punishment

[Initech]

3. ICE are the ones who should be in prison! Fuck ICE!

[ChicagoTeamster]

4. Do they honestly think those crew members will be easily replaced

By white Americans? Who do they think is going to do the jobs of the people they’re deporting?

[wnylib]

6. Sounds like a revenge attack on Disney.

So I don't think they care about Disney losing employees. It's likely the goal, in addition to ramping up the deportation numbers.

Disney owns ABC. Jimmy Kimmel is on ABC.

[kimbutgar]

5. Way to kill the cruise industry !

Every cruise I’ve been on has foreign workers. So now cruise ships can’t deport or dock in American ports if the workers are not US citizens?

The stupidity of this DICKtatorship is appalling And disgusting.

[Unbitten]

7. No one will advocate

Understandably, no one will advocate for terrorists or pedophiles... So simply labeling an otherwise-innocent person as such is essentially a safe, de facto way to strip them of due process and other legal protections.

[Jacson6]

8. Oh No! The Child Molesters are being discriminated against.

Freedom for CHO'MOS, I guess,

What in the heck is this doing here? IMHO.

[orangecrush]

15. 100s of child molesters all on cruise ships

And they all happen to be Filipino!

What are the odds?

[Tanuki]

16. Where in the heck is due process?

[Pototan]

9. Filipino is the way to describe

a man from the Philippines. Filipina for a woman.

just saying.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

14. Ooopps! Thx

[Gdem]

10. Filipino

The term Filipino can be used for both genders.

[marble falls]

17. Except: do not call a male "Filipina". Learned that in the Navy when the US still had a base at Subic Bay.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. Welcome to DU

[Bev54]

12. So soon the cruise ships will stop docking in the US as well as all the other tourists that have

stopped visiting. They really do want to destroy the tourist industry in full, cruise ships are not going to want to put their employees or patrons in danger.

[orangecrush]

13. The new Gestapo

[marble falls]

18. After all the crap the US has laid on the Philipines after the Spanish American War, they are still good allies and ...

... then TACO dumps this shit on them. I knew filipinos when I was in the Navy (they could still get US citizenship by serving in the armed forces), and these were good people who worked hard to better their situations in life. And very damn few of them were stewards. They were CWO helicoptor pilots, machinist mates, electricians, motormen, yeomen, officers ... they more serious about the Navy than most of the US citizens.