Disney Cruise employees were among 28 individuals arrested as part of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operation targeting child sexual abuse material. The arrests occurred after CBP boarded five cruise ships, including the Disney Magic docked in San Diego, between April 23 and 25.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed the company’s zero-tolerance policy for such activities and stated that employees arrested were no longer affiliated with the cruise line. “We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and 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 spokesperson said.
Passengers aboard the Disney Magic witnessed multiple employees being detained during unloading procedures at San Diego’s B Street Cruise Terminal. Dharmi Mehta, a passenger who documented the incident via video, identified one of those taken into custody as her head waiter—a man she had known throughout the cruise. Mehta shared that he has two daughters and was scheduled to reunite with them later that month. “It was really unsettling,” she stated during a news conference at the pier. “He was still wearing his Disney-issued uniform and had no belongings, so I wondered how he would reach out to his family or if they even knew he wasn’t returning to the ship.”
Additional arrests were made on April 28 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which detained 23 crew members suspected of involvement with child sexual abuse material. The individuals were transported to Los Angeles for processing, and their visas were revoked. CBP confirmed all subjects were linked to the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of such materials.
The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department clarified that local law enforcement had no role in the April 23 or 25 operations. Earlier concerns included reports from immigration rights groups about four “seafarers” detained on the Holland America MV Zandaam cruise ship, though the port stated no local police participated in those cases either.
