Liberals and the mainstream media were wrong. The Disney raid was not about hate for immigrants or brown people. It was about child pornography.
Between April 23 and 27, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) boarded eight cruise ships at the Port of San Diego Cruise Ship Terminal as part of an ongoing Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSAM) enforcement operation.
On April 28, HSI San Diego arrested 23 crew members from multiple ships under Operation Tidal Wave, acting on intelligence from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Electronic service providers, platforms such as WhatsApp, Google, and iCloud, are legally required to report detected CSAM to NCMEC, which routes tips to HSI for investigation.
The process is automated and mandatory, initiated by algorithmic detection rather than any administration policy. Of the 28 people detained, CBP confirmed 27 were involved in the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSAM, 26 Filipino nationals, one Portuguese, and one Indonesian. Ten were workers on the Disney Magic.
The Disney Magic is registered in the Bahamas, as are the majority of major cruise ships. Because it flies a foreign flag, U.S. labor laws do not apply, and the crew held C1/D crewmember visas rather than standard U.S. work permits. Foreign registry does not, however, create immunity from U.S. federal criminal law.
CBP retains full authority to board vessels entering U.S. ports, and CSAM possession and distribution are federal crimes regardless of where a ship is flagged. Following confirmed CSAM findings, CBP cancelled the visas of all 27 and returned them to their countries of citizenship. Disney stated it has a zero-tolerance policy, cooperated fully with law enforcement, and terminated the employees involved.
Media framing made it appear that ICE raided a Disney ship for no good reason and arrested the crew “in front of children” and “stunned passengers “simply for being foreign. The only reason given in these posts was that President Trump hates brown people, ignoring the fact that the people arrested were not necessarily brown. Bored Panda ran reader commentary stating: “Let’s remember that this is the Trump administration making claims about brown foreign workers.”
Hellbound and Down 