- United States
- Calif.
- Letter
Congress needs to stop the Trump administration's campaign of military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — now. At least 211 people have been killed, with no evidence presented that any of these vessels were actually carrying drugs. No charges. No trial. No due process. Just lethal force against people who may have been fishermen.
The legal case against these strikes is damning. In the very first strike in early September, two survivors clinging to wreckage were killed in a follow-up attack. The White House called it "self-defense." Military legal scholars called it illegal under any circumstances. And the administration's own justification — that killing people at sea reduces overdose deaths — falls apart when you consider that fentanyl is smuggled overland from Mexico, not by boat. These strikes aren't stopping the drug supply. They're just killing people.
The Pentagon's inspector general is reviewing targeting procedures, but that review doesn't even address whether the strikes are legal. That's not accountability — that's cover. Congress must demand the unedited video of every strike, hold hearings, and pass legislation to end this program immediately. Over 200 people are dead. What number does it take before someone in Washington acts?