Four more crew members from the Norfolk-based Carnival Sunshine cruise ship have been deported, groups involved with the crew members told WHRO Monday, bringing the total deported from that vessel to 28.
Aquilina Soriano Versoza, the executive director of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, said they were detained by Customs and Border Protection agents on Sunday morning.
“They were accused of being in a group chat that had some links to child pornography, but they weren't shown any evidence of it, and all of the workers absolutely denied having anything to do with child pornography,” Soriano Versoza said.
Almost all of the workers deported from the Carnival Sunshine this year are originally from the Philippines. Nationally, more than 100 have been deported in 2025 from various cruise ships.
“And then, without charges, without convictions, their visas - they're valid C1/D visas - were revoked, and they were given a 10-year ban.”
C1/D visas are non-immigrant visas for foreign workers employed as part of the crew of commercial vessels.
The four Carnival Sunshine crew members were held at a hotel overnight near Norfolk International Airport and were reportedly put on a plane Monday morning, according to advocates at the scene.
Soriano Versoza said the seizure and deportation followed the same pattern as previous incidents, where workers with legal visas were accused of involvement in child pornography with “no evidence, no charges and no convictions and no access to legal counsel.”
“We really think that this is a part of CBP trying to reach the quotas that is being put on them by the administration, but they are not responding to us,” Soriano Versoza said.
She said the workers are being intimidated into signing deportation paperwork under threat of a $250,000 fine or jail.
The CBP office in Norfolk told WHRO the agency has no comment.
Matt Lupoli, Carnival’s senior manager of public relations, said in an email that the company wouldn’t comment beyond saying “This is a law enforcement matter. Carnival always cooperates with law enforcement investigations.”
The incidents have gotten attention from some American officials, including Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Newport News). He released a statement in July questioning the due process of these removals, citing incidents where seafarers were charged, convicted and served a jail sentence in the U.S. before deportation.
Soriano Versoza said she’s been meeting with government officials in the Philippines to figure out how to prevent more deportations.
