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ICE Agents Raid Disney Cruise Ship in Southern California

in Disney Cruise Line, Travel

Posted on by Erica Lauren 17 Comments
Disney Dream ship, adorned with elegant golden designs, sails on the open ocean under a clear sky, showcasing its vast scale and modern structure.

Credit: Disney Cruise

Disney Cruise Line has been making headlines for a lot of reasons lately. The company recently announced it is doubling the number of ships making stops in San Diego, a move that signaled growing confidence in the California market and gave the city’s tourism industry something to celebrate. San Diego has been positioning itself as a legitimate cruise destination, and Disney’s expansion plans were exactly the kind of news the port and local businesses had been hoping for. But just weeks before that announcement, which was generating positive press, something very different was happening at the B Street Cruise Terminal, leaving passengers shaken and immigration rights groups calling for answers.

On April 23, as the Disney Magic finished a five-day voyage and began unloading passengers at the B Street Pier, federal immigration agents were already on the scene. What followed was something most Disney guests never expect to witness at the end of a vacation.

What Disney Cruise Passengers Saw

Dharmi Mehta was aboard that five-day sailing. The trip had taken her and her family to Catalina Island and Ensenada before returning to San Diego, the kind of itinerary Disney Cruise Line is known for. As Mehta was making her way through customs, she noticed ICE officers escorting crewmembers off the ship in restraints. She kept watching. Later, while leaving the parking lot at the B Street Pier, she saw more crew members being loaded into a white van, surrounded by federal agents.

One of the people she watched being detained was the head waiter who had served her family throughout the entire cruise. He was still wearing his Disney-issued uniform, blazer, and tie, with his name tag on. He had none of his belongings with him.

“He was fully in uniform,” Mehta said at a news conference held near the pier nearly two weeks after the incident. “Some of the other employees were still in their chef’s uniforms with their name tags on them.” Mehta described the scene as “really unsettling” and said her immediate concern was practical and human. The man has two daughters and has been looking forward to seeing them. He left the ship with nothing.

“So that was just my big concern, like how is he gonna reach out to his family? Does the family even know that he’s not getting back on the ship today?”

Ten crewmembers from the Disney Magic were arrested that day, according to immigration rights groups who have been following the situation closely.

Source: NBCSanDiego

Disney Cruise Line Disney Magic ship
Credit: Walt Disney Travel Company

It Did Not Stop There

Two days later, on April 25, federal agents returned to the B Street Cruise Terminal, detaining four crewmembers from Holland America’s MV Zandaam. Immigration advocates, including Benjamin Prado from Union del Barrio, labeled the detentions as “abductions,” claiming the workers were denied due process and consular access. Prado stated, “This is not an isolated incident,” noting a growing pattern of such events in San Diego and across the country. The groups urged federal agencies for transparency and called on cruise lines to better protect their workers.

Where Local Police Stand

The Port of San Diego was clear about its role, or lack of one. A spokesperson confirmed that the Harbor Police Department had no involvement in either the April 23 or April 25 enforcement actions and received no calls for service related to either incident. The statement pointed to California’s SB 54, which prohibits local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement activities.

The port’s statement also noted that the B Street Cruise Terminal operates as a federal port of entry, which places immigration and customs authority under U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Any enforcement actions taken onboard vessels or within the federal inspection area fall under CBP jurisdiction, not local or port police. NBC San Diego reached out to CBP and did not receive a response. The cruise lines also did not comment.

A maritime attorney who spoke to ABC 10 about the situation said federal agents “obviously had a reason to go there” and that it “could have been any number” of things, without speculating further.

What This Means for Disney Cruise Line’s San Diego Expansion

Disney Cruise Line has not publicly addressed the arrests. The timing is notable. The company’s announcement about doubling its San Diego ship stops was generating real enthusiasm among local tourism officials, and questions were already being raised about whether news of federal agents removing crew members from Disney ships in front of guests might affect that momentum. The San Diego Tourism Authority did not respond to the request.

For guests who were there that day, the answer to that question is probably complicated. The cruise itself was fine. The vacation was fine. But the ending was not something anyone had planned to see.

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