Maryland advocacy groups aim to spread the word on Filipino seafarer deportations

Maryland advocacy groups aim to spread the word on Filipino seafarer deportations
Dennis Valera November 19, 2025 https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-filipino-seafarers-port-...

Maryland advocacy groups say Filipino seafarers are being targeted, including at the Port of Baltimore.

Those deportations are happening as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement efforts.

Adrian Reantaso with Malaya Movement Baltimore, one of the advocacy groups speaking out about this, said this is happening at ports in other states, including Virginia and Florida.

Reantaso said his group has been hearing concerns from Filipino cruise ship workers and other seafarers for weeks, especially after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) removed four Filipino workers from a Carnival cruise ship docked at the Port of Baltimore in September.

"We hear firsthand accounts of them being scared for their lives. They're packing their stuff up in anticipation [of CBP coming to remove them]," Reantaso said.

The International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) Philippines reports that more than 100 Filipino seafarers have been deported or denied entry into the United States since April.
What is a seafarer and their immigration status?

Seafarers are people employed to serve aboard any type of marine vessel, according to the website, The Mission To Seafarers.

The website says there are 1.89 million international seafarers worldwide.

According to the U.S. Department of State, the Seafarer immigration status in the U.S. is primarily managed through a C1/D nonimmigrant visa, which combines transit and crewmember permissions for temporary work on commercial vessels.

The department says the visa allows entry for the purpose of joining a ship but has significant restrictions, including a general inability to adjust to a different visa status or a green card while remaining in the U.S.

Seafarers need a valid passport and the C1/D visa, and their status is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to the U.S. Department of State.
Efforts to protect Filipino seafarers

Reantaso said that by spreading awareness, he and other advocates want to see these workers protected.

Working with another advocacy organization, the Tanggol Migrante Movement, Malaya has helped organize two protests and a town hall -- all with the purpose of making people aware of the issue.

The groups are also hoping these workers can be protected from the kind of federal immigration enforcement seen during the current Trump administration.
Why the removals happened

In a statement about the September removals at the Port of Baltimore, a CBP spokesman said those workers had child sexual exploitation material.

"After boarding the vessel and interviewing four suspected crew members, officers confirmed they had received and viewed the exploitation material," the statement reads.

Reantaso said many of the removed seafarers had pictures of their families, and not sexual images. Once removed from the ship, Reantaso said seafarers' lives are "effectively ruined."

"Their employment is terminated, they are blacklisted by their employment agencies, their visas are revoked, and they are banned from re-entering the U.S. for ten years," Reantaso said. "That really, really inhibits their livelihood as seafarers."

The Philippine Embassy said it has started a probe into these concerns with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Both agencies informed the embassy, according to a statement, that they acted according to U.S. laws. The embassy said it would continue to look into these concerns.