CBP deports more than 200 Filipino sailors on unproven child sexual abuse material accusations

An NPR investigation published June 6, 2026 documented that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deported more than 200 Filipino professional mariners from the United States since 2025, almost all of them accused — but never charged — with possessing child sexual abuse material. The reporting, based on a seven-month investigation and dozens of immigration documents NPR reviewed, describes a uniform playbook: CBP agents board cruise and commercial ships when they dock, round up Filipino crew members, search their phones, and interrogate them. Within roughly 24 hours their crew visas are revoked and they are flown to Manila, in at least some cases with 10-year bans on reentering the United States. The Los Angeles-based Pilipino Workers Center has tracked at least 212 such cases; none resulted in criminal charges or prosecutions.

The deported mariners deny the accusations and say agents refused to show them any evidence. One sailor's visa reviewed by NPR was stamped "CWOP" — cancelled without prejudice — a marking typically used for administrative or clerical errors. A CBP spokesperson told NPR the claim that the agency is targeting Filipino seafarers "is FALSE," saying "We are targeting criminal aliens including these child predators"; but CBP and the Justice Department did not respond to detailed questions about why none of the more than 200 men were charged with any crime if evidence existed. The Pilipino Workers Center's director described the practice as a way of raising deportation numbers, and deported workers told NPR they believe they were counted toward removal quotas. Filipino nationals make up more than a quarter of the world's seafarers.

The pattern was visible in trade press well before the NPR investigation: in July 2025, The Maritime Executive reported that more than 100 Filipino crew members had been removed since that April in ports from Norfolk, Virginia to Port Canaveral, Florida — handcuffed off their ships, accused of possessing child pornography "without a shred of evidence," and deported as administrative actions with no charges filed. This entry is dated to the June 6, 2026 publication of the investigation that established the practice's scope and mechanics; the underlying removals span October 2025 to the present, with individual documented incidents at Charleston (October 2025), Baltimore (summer 2025), and San Diego (April 2026). Because visa revocation is framed as administrative rather than criminal, the accused receive no hearing, no presented evidence, and no forum in which to contest a stigmatizing, career-ending allegation.