Dharmi Mehta’s five-day cruise aboard the Disney ship Magic was full of fun. The vessel stopped in Catalina Island and Ensenada before returning to San Diego, but as she was disembarking, Mehta said she was disturbed by what she saw — ICE Officers escorting crewmembers off the vessel in restraints.
The first sighting came as Mehta was waiting to clear customs. Later, as she and her family were leaving the parking lot at the B Street Pier near the cruise terminal, she spotted several other crewmembers being loaded into a white van surrounded by federal agents.
“It was really unsettling,” said Mehta, who spoke to reporters during a news conference on the pier nearly two weeks after the incident. The most troublesome thing, she said, was that one of the crewmembers being detained was the head waiter who had served her and her family throughout the cruise. She knew the man has two daughters and was looking forward to seeing them later this month.
Mehta said the head waiter and the others who were taken into custody were still wearing their Disney-issued uniforms and didn’t have any of their belongings with them. “So that was just my big concern like how is he gonna reach out to his family? Does the family even know that he’s not getting back on the ship today?”
Mehta was joined at the news conference by representatives of several migrant rights groups who claim that crewmembers aboard another cruise ship were detained on April 25, two days after the Magic incident. They claim four “seafarers” working aboard Holland America’s MV Zandaam were also whisked away by ICE agents.
“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.”
Prado called the actions taken by federal agents “abductions” and said the detainees were being denied due process and access to consular services.
“It is our responsibility as a society, as working people, to really denounce these actions by Customs and Border Protection, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the prolonged detention of migrant workers, whether it be here in our own community as well as those that work on ships,” Prado added.
He and other groups present say they want transparency from federal agents and want the cruise lines to do more to protect their employees.
NBC San Diego reached out to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) but did not receive a response regarding the accusations and demands. We were unable to get comments from the cruise lines.
A spokesperson for the Port of San Diego issued this statement:
“The Port of San Diego 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. 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 B Street Cruise Terminal is a federal port of entry, where law enforcement authority for immigration and customs matters rests with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As such, any enforcement actions taken onboard vessels or within the federal inspection area fall under CBP’s jurisdiction.
For questions regarding these specific incidents, including the circumstances of the enforcement actions or the individuals involved, we recommend contacting CBP or the respective cruise lines directly.”
NBC San Diego also reached out to the San Diego Tourism Authority to see whether reports of federal agents removing crewmembers from cruise ships might dampen the enthusiasm about the recent announcement that Disney is doubling the number of cruise ships that make stops in San Diego. They did not respond.
ICE spokesperson Sandra Grisolia released the following statement on Wednesday:
“On April 28, HSI San Diego arrested twenty-three crewmembers from multiple cruise ships at the Port of San Diego as part of Operation Tidal Wave. The arrests targeted individuals suspected of involvement with Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), based on information received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The arrestees were transported to Los Angeles for processing, and their visas were revoked.”
Following up an earlier story from NBC 7, Customs and Border Protection said the recent ICE arrests on a Disney Cruise ship were part of an ongoing child pornography operation.
