Days after advocates demanded information regarding the arrest of several cruise ship workers in April, federal immigration officials on Thursday released more details.
Agents arrested 23 crew members from multiple ships at the Port of San Diego as part of “Operation Tidal Wave,” which targeted people suspected of involvement with child sexual abuse materials, according to a statement to KPBS from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Sandra Grisolia.
In a separate statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said 27 people were arrested and deported, almost all of them from the Philippines.
“Officers confirmed all subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of child pornography,” the CBP statement said.
The quick nature of these deportations — less than two weeks after the initial arrest — raised questions among experts.
ICE declined a KPBS request for more information about the individuals arrested, including their names, warrants or any of the charging documents.
“At this time, we have nothing to add beyond the statement,” Grisolia wrote in response to the KPBS request
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in San Diego and Los Angeles said they have no record of any charges stemming from “Operation Tidal Wave.”
“There are no pending criminal charges in this district,” said Kelly Thornton, spokesperson for the Office of the U.S. Attorney, Southern District of California.
Thornton’s counterpart in Los Angeles told KPBS their office is “not aware of this matter being brought to our attention.”
The San Diego Harbor Police also did not have any involvement in the operation, according to a statement from the Port of San Diego.
Additionally, a spokesperson for the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles told KPBS in an email that the Trump administration did not inform the consulate of the allegations before they were made public.
A maritime attorney said these types of cases are usually handled by the FBI and tried in federal court.
"I think there was something very unique here that it was CBP and ICE, and they immediately sent all those crew members back to their home countries," Michael Winkleman said in an interview with KPBS news partner ABC 10News.
"They could have been charged in U.S. courts and be in federal prison. Now awaiting charges, awaiting trial, etc. but the fact that they were sent home to their home countries, that's actually quite unique."
Under immigration law, visas can be revoked if someone is suspected or arrested of a crime — even if they are never formally charged or convicted. Last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visas of several students who protested the high civilian casualty count in Israel’s war in Gaza.
“We deny visas all over the world every day for a variety of reasons, and that means we can also revoke those visas,” Rubio said at the time. “No one is entitled to a visa.”
Still, immigration policy experts say there are a couple reasons why the lack of transparency from ICE and CBP is concerning.
First, it prevents anyone from independently verifying the accusations. In her statement, Grisolia said ICE made the arrests based on information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, but didn’t provide any details.
The center did not immediately respond to an inquiry from KPBS.
Over the past year, there have been a number of cases in which Department of Homeland Security Officials made false claims about people’s criminality.
For example, in October, CBP agents accused a woman in Chicago who they shot five times of trying to ram them with her Chevy Tahoe. Federal prosecutors later dropped those charges.
Last spring, federal immigration officials described the 252 men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison as “worst of the worst” and alleged “terrorists.” But a later independent investigation found only eight of those men had convictions for violent offenses.
Another concern is when someone accused of a serious crime is deported before facing criminal consequences, victims are prevented from getting justice.
“If the agency is being truthful, the fact that people are deported before they are prosecuted, before we know what is going on with these cases and make sure people face real consequences is a concern,” said Austin Kocher, a researcher at Syracuse University who focuses on immigration enforcement.
Kocher added that deporting someone before completing a thorough investigation may also prevent investigators from learning more information about an alleged child sexual abuse materials operation.
