More than 100 Filipino crew members have been forcibly detained and deported by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The crew members held valid visas, which were revoked by the CBP without due process.

Foreign crew members hold visas that the Department of Homeland Security or the State Department can revoke for alleged criminal activity without pending charges or investigations, said Georgetown Law faculty member Sophia Genovese. When revocations occur, they are not subject to review in federal courts, she said.

The Pilipino Workers Center (PWC) and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) reported that CBP officers once again met the Carnival Cruise Line ship Carnival Sunshine last Sunday, August 17, when the ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia, from its weekly cruise. Four Filipino crewmembers out of a crew of over 1,000 people were reportedly taken into custody, removed from the ship, placed in a hotel under guard overnight, and flown out of the United States the following day.

The advocacy groups contend that the crewmembers are being “fast-tracked” for deportation with no legal process. They said no evidence, no charges, and no hearings are being conducted. Instead, the crewmembers are told they must sign deportation paperwork or face the potential of a $250,000 fine or jail time. As part of the deportation, they are also barred from returning to the United States for 10 years.

The group reports that the four crewmembers taken into custody on Sunday were told they were being targeted because they participated in an online chat group that had links to child pornography. No evidence was presented, and the group says all four individuals denied the allegations.

They were interrogated for several hours, and accused of involvement in child pornography, which they denied. The crew members were then taken under guard to the airport, having been fingerprinted and photographed. They were held in detention cells before being flown back to Manila via Doha, Qatar.

The accounts are similar to those of dozens of other crew members who have been deported. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revoked crew members’ ten-year C1/D seaman visas based on allegations that they viewed child pornography while on the cruise ships. CBP officers then refuse to permit the crew members the right to speak with an attorney, to review the evidence which allegedly incriminates them, or otherwise confront their accusers.

It is telling that the current administration, which is doing all that it can to cover up the pedophilia documented by the Epstein files, is using wholly undocumented and unproven allegations of child pornography as an excuse to abuse and deport Filipino cruise ship workers with legal visas.

Thanks to Joan Druett for contributing to this post.