… “Due process is the law,” protestors chanted outside the gates of a Carnival cruise ship in Norfolk Sunday morning.

They gathered following a report that showed at least a dozen lawful, visa-holding Filipino cruise ship workers were allegedly wrongfully deported. Aquilina Soriano Versoza is the executive director of the Pilipino Workers Center. The grassroots non-profit represents low-wage and immigrant Pilipino communities in the United States.

Soriano Versoza told 10 On Your Side that more than a dozen Filipino crew members of the
Carnival Sunshine cruise line, all holding valid 10-year C-1/D visas, were “forcibly removed in handcuffs” by Customs and Border Patrol officers at the Port of Norfolk. Officers allegedly told the workers they were accused of possessing child pornography and that’s why they were removed from the ship.

Soriano Versoza said despite a lack of evidence, the cruise ship employees were all sent back to the Philippines without any legal representation or due process. Those former employees told Soriano Versoza that their employment with Carnival was terminated by the time they got home to their families…

10 On Your Side reached out to Carnival Cruise leaders to learn more about their former employee’s deportations. In a statement, they said “This is a law enforcement matter. Carnival always cooperates with law enforcement investigations…”