ICE Raids Disney Cruise Ship in San Diego, Detains Crew in Front of Passengers

On April 23, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out a dramatic raid on the Disney Magic cruise ship docked at the Port of San Diego, arresting at least 10 crew members. Passengers onboard witnessed crew, still in their Disney uniforms, being led off the ship with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, sparking horror and confusion.

Dharmi Mehta, a passenger on the cruise, described the unsettling scene: the head waiter who had been serving her family just an hour earlier was suddenly restrained and taken away. “He had two daughters he was excited to see,” Mehta said, emphasizing the human toll of these detentions.

The raid did not stop with the Disney ship. Two days later, ICE agents detained four seafarers aboard Holland America’s MV Zaandam, according to migrant rights activists. Benjamin Prado of Union del Barrio condemned the actions as “abductions” and part of a growing pattern of aggressive immigration enforcement targeting maritime workers not only in San Diego but nationwide.

The Port of San Diego Harbor Police clarified they were not involved in the raids, citing California’s SB 54 law which prohibits local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement. Instead, the federal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holds jurisdiction over immigration actions at the port’s federal inspection area.

Immigrant advocates are demanding greater transparency from federal authorities and are calling on cruise lines like Disney and Holland America to protect their employees from such harsh enforcement tactics. This incident lays bare the Trump administration’s relentless crackdown on immigrants, even those working in service roles on luxury cruise ships, underscoring the administration’s disregard for basic human dignity and workers’ rights.

As the Trump-era ICE intensifies its raids, these public, humiliating arrests serve as a stark warning—and a call to action—for advocates and policymakers to push back against this authoritarian overreach. The question remains: how many more “abductions” will it take before the public demands accountability?