For the last two decades, 39-year-old Michael James Garcia has worked in the cruise ship industry.This was his dream."I'm a marine engineer graduate, so actually it's really my profession to work on the ship," Garcia told NPR from his home in the Philippines.Most of his time in the industry was spent sailing in the U.S.with different companies, most recently with Viking Ocean Cruises where he worked as a motorman in the engine department.Garcia had a visa that's given to crew members on commercial ships, and he says he'd never gotten into any trouble with immigration authorities.
But in October of last year, that changed.Garcia was interrogated by Customs and Border Protection agents while on board the Viking cruise ship at the port in Charleston, South Carolina.It was unclear to him at that point why he was being questioned."I've been very cooperative with them because I'm confident that I didn't do anything that violates the country," Garcia said.He allowed them into his cabin, and gave the agents his cell phone.
Garcia said agents went over his call log, his text messages, and even his Facebook messages."I try to ask him, 'What's my violation?' And he said to me that … I have an e-mail linked to a child pornography (website)," Garcia said.Garcia denies ever downloading, possessing, watching, or distributing child pornography.He was never charged by U.S.authorities for any crimes.
Still, his visa was revoked, and he was slapped with a 10-year ban from entering the U.S."They (don't) give you due process just to defend yourself," Garcia said."Right now we are being targeted by the United States (in) this (immigration) crackdown."Garcia's case is similar to that of more than 200 Filipino professional sailors who have been deported from the U.S.
since 2025.Almost all of them have been accused — but never charged — of possessing child pornography.These deportations stretch across the nation from Baltimore, to San Diego, to Port Canaveral, Fla.For the last se...