'Total injustice': Filipino seafarers left adrift by mass US deportations
‘Total injustice’: Filipino seafarers left adrift by mass US deportations | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3325472/total-injustice-filipino-seafarers-left-adrift-mass-us-deportations
Marcelo Morales was resting in his cabin on the cruise ship Carnival Sunshine docked at Norfolk, Virginia, when two armed agents of the US Customs and Border Protection picked him up for an “interview” on June 28.
“I spent around three hours in interrogation, where they were forcing me to admit that I was watching child pornography. I vehemently denied that I watch that kind of content,” Morales told This Week in Asia.
“They told me that it was better for me to go home to the Philippines and be with my family, instead of being imprisoned in the US for five to 10 years with a US$250,000 fine,” said Morales, who worked as a cook on the luxury ship operated by the Carnival Cruise Line.
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His ordeal did not end there as the C1/D visa that allowed Morales and nine other Filipinos aboard the Carnival Sunshine to work in the US for 10 years was cancelled, leaving them adrift.
“All 10 of us in that room cried because we were informed that our visas were being revoked and we could no longer work in the US for 10 years,” Morales said.
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