Yesterday, we shared a controversial story, and now we have a disturbing update. The story coming out of San Diego looked like one thing. Federal agents showed up at the B Street Cruise Terminal on April 23 as the Disney Magic was finishing a five-day sailing and started arresting crew members in front of passengers who were still trying to get off the ship.
A traveler named Dharmi Mehta watched her family's head waiter get escorted off in restraints, still in his blazer and name tag, with no bags or belongings, loaded into a white van with other crew members, while families stood in the parking lot watching.
Immigration rights groups held a press conference. Advocates talked about abductions and due process violations. Everyone pointed at ICE. The story spread as an immigration enforcement story because that is exactly what it looked like from the pier.
It was not an immigration enforcement story.
The Real Story
U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the New York Post that the operation carried out between April 23 and April 25 at the Port of San Diego had nothing to do with immigration status. It was a child sexual exploitation sting.
Between those two dates, 28 crew members were arrested across five cruise ships. CBP confirmed that after boarding the vessels and interviewing all 28 suspects, officers determined that every single individual was involved in the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of child sexual exploitation material, also referred to as child pornography.
Twenty-six of the arrested crew members were from the Philippines. One was from Portugal. One was from Indonesia. All 28 had their visas revoked and were being deported from the United States.
The cruise lines involved beyond Disney and Holland America have not been publicly confirmed.
Disney cruise ship staffers among 28 arrested in massive child porn operation https://t.co/syY3rRMsNf pic.twitter.com/fPgTMXF5ZH
— New York Post (@nypost) May 7, 2026
Disney Cruise Line Responded
Disney Cruise Line put out a statement after the new details became public. The company said it has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior, confirmed it fully cooperated with law enforcement throughout the operation, and stated that every individual involved is no longer employed by the company.
Short, direct, and to the point. Disney has not said anything beyond that.
How Two Weeks Passed Before Anyone Knew the Truth
This is the part of the story that deserves some attention. Between April 23 and May 7, the dominant narrative around these arrests was an immigration sweep. That narrative was not invented out of nowhere. It came directly from what witnesses saw and what official sources did and did not say.
Passengers saw plainclothes federal agents arresting uniformed cruise workers in restraints at a California port. The Port of San Diego confirmed Harbor Police had zero involvement and cited SB 54, California's law prohibiting local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement.
CBP did not respond to any press inquiries. Disney did not comment. An immigration attorney described the detentions as abductions. A maritime attorney said agents obviously had a reason to be there but would not say what it was.
Nobody lied. Nobody fabricated anything. The people who called it an immigration sweep were working with the only information anyone had, and in the current national climate around immigration enforcement, a federal operation at a port involving foreign national workers reads one specific way. The actual nature of the operation was not disclosed until CBP spoke to the New York Post two weeks after the arrests took place.
Where Things Stand With Disney Cruise Line and Beyond
All 28 individuals are being deported. Their visas have been revoked. Disney has confirmed they are no longer with the company. No additional details about the investigation or any further legal proceedings have been released publicly.
The Disney Magic is still sailing out of San Diego. Disney's announced expansion of its San Diego cruise schedule remains on track. The B Street Cruise Terminal looks exactly the same as it did on April 22.
Dharmi Mehta stood at that pier and felt genuine concern for the man who had served her family all week. Mehta spoke publicly about it because what she saw was alarming. She was not wrong to be alarmed. Dharmi just did not know, and could not have known, what she was actually looking at.
Nobody did until this week.
That’s what happens when you jump to conclusions and put the blame on the villain of the day- ICE
The moral of the story: Keep your mouth shut and your stupidity to yourself until you have/know all the facts!
Once again liberals spewing lies and displaying their ignorance for the world to see!