A cruise passenger was wrongfully detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when their Carnival ship returned to Miami, Florida.
Jose Martinez, a U.S. Coast Guard Veteran and U.S. citizen residing in Phoenix, Arizona, was abruptly woken up around 6:45 a.m. on January 5, 2026, when ICE agents barged into his cabin.
Martinez was sailing on the Carnival cruise ship with his wife, Tamara Verhas, and several others for a special birthday celebration.
"I was excited to just have the feeling of adventure of seeing new places," Martinez told 12 News. "We were really looking forward to that. We love the ocean."
Unfortunately, the long-awaited birthday cruise ended in chaos when ICE agents stormed into the couple's stateroom on disembarkation morning.
"[The door] burst open [and three] men came in with flashlights shining them in our faces and giving us commands," he recalled.
"They ordered me out of bed and put me against the wall, and handcuffed me. I had no idea what was going on. I was asking what this was about; it was a flurry of just confusion."
His wife added that they were half-dressed, so the agents brought in a female agent to be present. She saw that Verhas was filming and forcibly tried to grab the phone from her.
"I pushed her away, and she jumped on me again and snatched it from my hand," she explained.
Martinez's instinct was to comply with the agents to avoid escalating the situation. He was taken from his wife, removed from the ship, and held in an unknown location.
Very little information was shared with Martinez about what was happening, but he continued to ask the ICE agents questions until they revealed the details.
"From what I understand, all of this was based off my first and last name, a very common Hispanic name," he said. "They thought I was someone who had warrants for drug trafficking or some sort of offender."
While in the holding cell, Verhas was left alone in the Carnival cruise cabin, unsure of where her husband had been taken.
"It's still humiliating. He has no criminal record, no arrests, he's never had handcuffs on," she remarked.
Finally, after nearly two hours, ICE realized they had detained the wrong person. Martinez was brought back to the ship, and ICE returned Verhas' phone to her — after the aforementioned video was deleted.
According to Martinez, ICE didn't extend an apology for the mistake, yet he heard agents talking about how they knew it was a mix-up.
"I remember hearing the agents saying they didn't feel good about how it all went and that they knew beforehand it would be a mismatched, mistaken identity, and yet they still went through with it and traumatized us," he recounted.
Likely, Martinez was initially flagged when the cruise line reviewed its passenger manifest as part of the routine customs process. Still, Martinez argued that, rather than raiding their cabin, they could have vetted his personal information.
"He has TSA Pre-Check, he has had FBI background check because he has his Concealed Carry. He's a military veteran, they had his passport, they could've figured all this out without ever having had to speak to us," Verhas added.
Carnival Cruise Line sent 12News a statement about the unfortunate ordeal:
"We are aware that U.S. Customs and Border Protection took a guest into custody as a person of interest. As this is a law‑enforcement matter, we defer all further questions to the appropriate authorities."
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Having sailed on over 30 cruises across different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Margaritaville at Sea, and Princess, she loves sharing her insight and expertise on all things cruising!
In addition to writing for Cruise.Blog, Elizabeth has bylines in Business Insider, Royal Caribbean Blog, and Cruiseshipfood.com.
