NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — “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, executive director of the grassroots nonprofit Pilipino Workers Center, which represents low-wage and immigrant Pilipino communities in the United States, 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.

“Their abrupt removal, accompanied by the cancellation of their visas and a shocking 10-year ban from re-entry, has inflicted deep trauma and humiliation, plunging their families into dire financial straits,” Soriano Versoza said. 

10 On Your Side reached out to Carnival Cruise leaders to learn more about their former employee’s deportations.

“This is a law enforcement matter,” Carnival said in a statement. “Carnival always cooperates with law enforcement investigations. We also have active training and education programs to make sure our crew members follow internet safety guidelines.”

WAVY also reached out to Customs and Border Patrol officials Sunday in relation to claims made by PWC. Their email is monitored Monday through Friday and will likely be addressed during those days.

WAVY also reached out to Sen. Tim Kaine’s Monday morning in response of Sunday’s incident.

“The Trump Administration’s months-long strategy to detain and deport people who are here legally with work visas and do not have criminal histories hurts our economy and is a direct affront to our country’s commitment to due process,” Kaine said.

10 On Your Side also heard from Rep. Bobby Scott, who is calling for inquiries with federal authorities to learn more about why the deportations happened.

“I am making inquiries with the appropriate federal authorities to gather more information,” Scott said in a statement. “Our nation was founded on the fundamental principles of due process. Under our Constitution, everyone is entitled to due process regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

According to USA Today, in April 2024, Tirso Neri, a citizen of the Philippines, was charged with transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography. Neri was arrested, provided the evidence prosecutors had against him and given a court date for the alleged crimes.

The deported visa-holders told Soriano Versoza they were never shown what law enforcement cited as child pornography in their phones. They denied having any to Soriano Versoza. According to Soriano Versoza, the former cruise employees were not charged with any crimes prior to deportation.

10 On Your Side spoke with an immigration lawyer in Virginia Beach. Radlyn Mendoza, co-founder and co-owner of Gardner and Mendoza Immigration law, was born to Filipino immigrants and went to work with her parents every day in their ethnic grocery store.

“When I found out that there were some people who were protesting, I just thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is this is really bad,'” she told 10 On Your Side. “It’s bad all the way around. I’m Filipino, I’m a Filipino immigration attorney. My parents had one of the very first Filipino grocery stores in Ocean View in Norfolk.”

Mendoza highlighted the lack of due process in the deportations. She asked why the individuals were not charged if they truly committed a crime.

“Why are you not charging them if they actually did? I mean, it’s a crime to have child pornography,” Mendoza said. “So it’s very interesting to me that in several cases in Florida and I believe in California, people were charged and they were brought to justice and they did get convicted and they did serve sentences.”

When asked about the legality of the deportations, she approached it from an attorney’s standpoint and took into consideration the broad powers that secretaries of state have.

“It does fall under these really broad powers that the government has to to revoke visas, whether it’s legal or not,” Mendoza said. “As an attorney, I’m looking at the statute. Yes, we can do this. But the tarnishing of these people’s reputation? Essentially, they’re not going to be able to come back, they’re not going to be able to get another visa ever again.”

In statements to PWC, the deported individuals stuck to their claims that the alleged accusations regarding possession of child pornography are false. One 29-year-old man described being “scared” and “intimidated” after allegedly being threatened to with hefty fines and jail time to admit to a crime he claims he didn’t commit.

His statement was translated by PWC from his native language of Tagalog. 

“I said no because I have sisters and I am married and have a child,” he said. “Suddenly, they threatened me and asked if I had the $250,000 to pay and if I wanted to go to jail. They tried to convince me many times to admit their accusation. I told them that I knew and God knows that I did not watch it.”

He said he willingly gave them his phone to look through and was very cooperative. He said they made him read a statement.

“And at the end, they made me read something that said that I watched minors in October 2021 and submitted a photo of minor in October 2021 as well,” he said. “I’m surprised because it’s so impossible. I’ve never watched or submitted anything like that and the evidence they’re saying is surprising because it’s just written in words and it’s not clear which platform it came from, whether it came from Facebook, Twitter, IG, et cetera.”

At one point, he said they accused him of only having a visa to “escape from the ship and work in the U.S. as an illegal.”

In his statement, the 29-year-old claimed eight other Pilipino coworkers were detained and deported.