U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have removed and apparently plan to deport crew members from at least four ships cruising the Great Lakes and others on ships sailing from U.S. ports, even though they held valid work visas, according to industry sources.
Among the latest in what CBP has called a “cruise ship crackdown” are raids on two ships of Victory Cruise Lines on stops in Detroit. Five crew were removed from Victory II on July 9 and eight crew from Victory I on July 11. The majority of the crew have been aboard the ships since the beginning of the Great Lakes cruise season in April.
Victory crew are hired through third-party ship management companies which vet them. All are understood to have valid work visas, up-to-date medical fitness and technical qualifications. Most of those detained were in the housekeeping departments, although one was reportedly an engineer who was allowed to stay on the ship because it couldn’t sail without him. While nationalities were not reported, many ship crew members come from Asia.
The reason for the detentions remains unclear. “We are actively cooperating with federal authorities to clarify the circumstances, and my priority is always our crew and the experience for our guests. We wish to thank federal, state and local representatives across the Great Lakes for their prompt and continued attention to this matter,” said John Waggoner, Victory Cruise Lines founder and chairman.
Maritime historian Peter Knego, who has sailed on Victory, reported that CBP made similar raids recently on two other Great Lakes cruise ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, with a total of 16 crew members being detained and deported from Detroit.
“Kristi Noem’s CBP marauders have now started handcuffing and deporting crew members…. The crew have no legal recourse and are being detained, then shipped back. Morale on both ships is low; crew are being told not to speak with the press and many are considering leaving, for fear of being unjustly arrested,” Knego reported on his podcast.
It’s happening in other ports. More than a dozen Filipino crew members with valid work visas have been removed in July from Carnival Sunshine that sails from Norfolk, Va. and deported. According to a report in the Cebu Daily News, the total of Filippino cruise ship crew who have been deported by the U.S. since April has topped 100. Many of the deported workers were also banned for 10 years from reentry to the United States. The reasons remain unclear.
In May, cruiselawnews.com reported on what a CBP press release called a “cruise ship crackdown” related to “child exploitation offenders “in the Port of Galveston and Port Canaveral. It led to one arrest and deportations of 10 other crew from Royal Caribbean ships. The release posted photos with faces blurred, including one of a person in handcuffs.
However, the explanations are being questioned.
“If the real reason for detaining 11 crew members was possession of child pornography, why was only one crew member arrested and 10 were deported to places unknown?” asks James Walker, editor of cruiselawnews.com. “CBP’s press release contained no explanation of this discrepancy and no discussion of the circumstances for apprehending these eleven ship employees.”
“As is the case with raids by the masked officers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of agricultural and farm workers, CBP often operates in a shroud of secrecy. CBP did not obtain a warrant or any evidence establishing probable cause or even reasonable suspicion,” Walker notes.
“Moreover, these crew members should be entitled to obtain legal representation and due process. They have been denied the right to see the incriminating facts, if any, supporting these serious allegations and to confront their accusers in a court of law. This complete lack of transparency is consistent (with ICE raids)… .masked federal officers without warrants rounding up immigrants and hauling them off to local detention centers or flying them to remote gulags outside of the U.S. in defiance of court orders,” Walker adds.
“The only issue at this point is how many more times will the CBP target non-U.S. crew members on cruise ships calling on U.S. ports? How many spineless cruise CEO’s will welcome onto their cruise ships federal agents who wait at the docks, with no warrants or probable cause, itching to conduct illegal apprehensions?”
Wallace Immen sailed aboard Victory 1 in June and found the crew to be among the most energetic and of any he has encountered at sea. See the review here.
The Cruisington Times is monitoring the situation and will update this story as it develops.
