U.S. military strikes on drug boats kill over 200, draw legal scrutiny

More than 200 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats since the campaign began in September, but the Trump administration has released little evidence showing why small vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific were treated as lawful military targets. Critics say the operation has blurred the line between counternarcotics enforcement and lethal force, especially as officials acknowledge that fentanyl is typically trafficked overland from Mexico while the fast boats hit at sea are known more for carrying cocaine. The U.S. Coast Guard recorded 225 metric tons of cocaine seizures in 2024, a reminder that the administration’s claim that sea strikes are the best way to stop drugs remains deeply contested.

Congress has started to press harder for answers. Reps. Seth Moulton, Don Bacon, Jason Crow and Mike Turner asked for the legal basis behind the strikes, whether the White House will seek congressional authorization, what threat the targeted people posed to the United States, and what process officials used to verify the targets. In the Senate, lawmakers raised concerns that the campaign may have violated the War Powers Resolution and the Law of Armed Conflict, while noting that the administration had not sought an authorization for use of military force.

The scale of the campaign has grown fast. U.S. officials say more than 60 boats have been struck, with the deadliest month coming in October, when 45 people were killed. The operation began off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and expanded to the eastern Pacific in October, with most of this year’s strikes taking place in the Pacific. The Pentagon’s internal watchdog has now opened an investigation into whether the military followed targeting guidelines and the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle in Operation Southern Spear.

The human toll has reached coastal communities already living with fragile economies and weak state protections. Reporters identified four men killed in the strikes in a region of Venezuela, and relatives and neighbors said the dead were mostly laborers or fishermen who earned about $500 a trip. In Colombia and Ecuador, residents of coastal communities have said the campaign is making them reconsider anything involving the ocean as a livelihood. United Nations experts said the attacks may amount to unlawful killings and urged the United States to stop them and open comprehensive investigations.