U.S. Customs and Border Protection says officers detained cruise ship crew members tied to child exploitation investigations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers boarded multiple cruise ships last month to detain crew members, according to officials.
Passengers reportedly saw the federal agents escorting several workers when disembarking from the Disney Magic at the San Diego cruise terminal, according to NBC San Diego. The ship had finished a five-day sailing to Catalina Island and Ensenada.
CBP confirmed to USA TODAY that federal agents boarded eight cruise ships between April 23 and 27 as part of its ongoing Child Sexual Exploitation Material enforcement operations.
“After boarding the vessels and interviewing 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one suspected crew member from Portugal, and one from Indonesia, officers confirmed that 27 of the 28 subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSEM or child pornography,” CBP told USA TODAY.
CBP said it canceled the visas of those whose activity was confirmed and deported them back to their country of citizenship. The agency did not specify whether criminal charges had been filed.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement,” a Disney spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement. “While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company.”
The company did not confirm other details about the incident.
At a news conference held by immigrants’ rights organizations on May 5, four crew members from a Holland America Line ship were also recently detained by agents, just two days after the Disney ship was stormed, according to KPBS. The ship was the line’s Zandaam vessel, NBC San Diego reported.
“This is a law enforcement matter, and we cooperate with law enforcement investigations in jurisdictions where we operate,” Holland America told USA TODAY, though the cruise line did not confirm any specifics and referred questions to CBP.
The Port of San Diego’s Harbor Police Department “did not have any involvement in the reported enforcement actions on April 23 or April 25 at the B Street Cruise Terminal,” the port told USA TODAY.
“We did not receive any calls for service related to these incidents. In accordance with California law, including SB 54, Harbor Police does not participate in immigration enforcement activities.”
The news comes after four Carnival Cruise Line crew members were removed from a ship in Baltimore in September “based off intelligence that crew members were in possession of child sexual exploitation material,” CBP said at the time.
This story was updated to add new information.
