After disembarking from a 4-day Disney Cruise, one of the passengers noticed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents arrest several crew members.
The passenger, Dharmi Mehta captured the April 23 arrest on video as she left the B Street Terminal. It shows CBP agents loading several Disney Cruise Line crew members, who appear to be still in their work uniforms, into an unmarked white van. She immediately recognized one of the crew members.
“One of the employees in restraints was a head server who had been serving me and my family for the duration of my trip,” she said. “We got to know him fairly well — he was actually serving us 45 minutes to an hour before he was in restraints.”
Nearly two weeks after the arrest, local immigrant rights activists are demanding answers. During a news conference at the ship terminal Tuesday, activists joined Mehta to call on CBP to release more information.
Several questions from the arrest have gone unanswered — including the names of the individuals detained, the reason for their arrest, their current whereabouts and whether CBP produced a warrant.
“The big questions and concerns we had were what will happen to them, where will they go, how do they go home, do they still have a job and do they know what resources are available to them,” Mehta said.
Mehta provided the name of one of the crew members, which KPBS ran through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement locator website. He did not appear in the system.
KPBS reached out to CBP and Disney for comment. They did not immediately responded.
The Port of San Diego told KPBS they were unaware of the federal operation.
"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 agency said in statement. "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."
Benjamin Prado, an organizer with Unión del Barrio, said the April 23 arrest was not an isolated incident. CBP agents conducted a similar arrest two days later, this time detaining four crew members from a ship belonging to the Holland America Line.
“Now this forms part of a larger pattern of affecting raids and immigration detention in work sites,” he said.
Activists said the detained crew members from the Holland America ship are from the Philippines and fear that they may have already been deported.
The Philippine Consulate in San Diego did not immediately respond to questions.
According to Disney’s website, requirements to work onboard vary by position. They include minimum experience requirements for certain positions as long as the person has, “the ability to obtain a passport, pass a background and medical check, and obtain proper visas.”
