27 Cruise Ship Crew Members Deported After CBP Child Exploitation Material Investigation

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers boarded eight cruise ships from April 23 to 27 as part of an ongoing child sexual exploitation material investigation. During the operation, officers interviewed 28 crewmembers.

Twenty-seven of the 28 were determined to have been involved in the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution or viewing of child sexual exploitation material or child pornography, a CBP spokesperson said. The 27 crewmembers had their visas canceled and were deported to their home countries.

Twenty-six of the deported crewmembers are from the Philippines, one is from Portugal and one is from Indonesia.

CBP will not release the names of the crewmembers. U.S. courts. An FBI spokesperson referred questions about the possibility of prosecution to CBP.

@NBCNews reported that the agency has provided no details on what prompted the operation. Some of the deported workers were employed by Disney Cruise Line. A Disney Cruise Line spokesperson said the company fully cooperated with law enforcement.

” “While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company,” the Disney Cruise Line spokesperson said. Some of Holland America’s crewmembers were involved. ” At least one of the CBP enforcement actions occurred on the Disney cruise ship Magic while it was docked at B-Street Pier on the San Diego Bay harbor, NBC San Diego reported.

The Port of San Diego’s Harbor Police was not involved in the operation. The Port of San Diego’s Harbor Police is prohibited by state law from participating in immigration enforcement because the terminal is a federal port of entry under CBP’s jurisdiction. The discovery was made last month, according to a CBP statement released Monday.