Since September 2, the Trump administration has conducted a series of lethal strikes against small boats in the Caribbean. The administration claims these strikes—which have killed more than 20 people—are justified military action against “terrorist” drug cartels and narcotics traffickers, arguing that the United States is in a state of “armed conflict” with these trafficking organizations. However, this justification fails on both the legal rationale and the reality: 1) The president has no legal authority to conduct these strikes; 2) the administration has presented no evidence for its claims, instead just asking the American people to trust them; and 3) these strikes will do little to stem the flow of drugs into this country.
Furthermore, President Donald Trump’s claims for this authority could be widely abused to target anyone his administration labels a “terrorist,” no matter where they are in the world, conducting strikes without transparency, oversight, or justification. Congress must step in to rein in the administration’s dangerous and illegal abuse of wartime powers before this leads to a larger war or further unlawful and lethal actions here at home.
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Trump is claiming a wartime authority to kill alleged “terrorists” without any oversight or legal authorization—these actions are illegal, extrajudicial killings
The administration has claimed these strikes are justified, arguing that the boats are affiliated with drug trafficking organizations that the United States has designated as terrorist organizations. Last week, after repeatedly refusing to provide written justification to Congress, the administration notified Congress that President Trump had “determined” that the United States was in an “armed conflict … with these designated terrorist organizations.” Yet experts in international, military, and national security law dispute the administration’s claims. Under both U.S. and international law, armed conflict status is not “determined” by the president, and the intent to distribute drugs does not qualify as an “armed attack.”
Earlier this year, the administration designated a series of drug trafficking organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). These FTO and SDGT designations allow the U.S. government to bar travel into the United States, prohibit U.S. entities from providing material support to these groups, and use Treasury authorities to block access to the U.S. banking system and seize assets. Crucially, FTO and SDGT designations do not, and have never, authorized military action or wartime authorities. The Constitution grants Congress—and Congress alone—the power to authorize military force against these groups, with a narrow exception in cases of self-defense.
Foreign terrorist organization and special designated global terrorist designations do not, and have never, authorized military action or wartime authorities.
The administration has also made clear that lethal force was not necessary and it could have interdicted these boats, as the Coast Guard regularly does. At least one boat altered its course and was turning around when it was struck, and in last week’s notification, the administration noted that the drugs the boats might have been carrying “could” eventually be used to kill Americans. This potential for distribution of dangerous drugs does not qualify as an armed attack under international law. Despite the administration’s insistence that the United States is in an undeclared war, these strikes were extrajudicial killings, which could put the entire chain of command at risk for prosecution for murder.
Every step of the way, the administration has refused to provide answers or sufficient legal justification to Congress or the American people.
This is not about stopping the flow of drugs
Combating drug trafficking requires sustained and coordinated efforts to both address the supply of drugs entering the country and reduce the demand for illicit drugs by expanding prevention and addiction treatment resources. The United States already has the authorities and capabilities to interdict the flow of drugs throughout the Caribbean: The U.S. Coast Guard, as our lead maritime law enforcement agency, works closely with Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Navy, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and other partner nations to track, intercept, and seize illicit shipments throughout the Caribbean. Capturing these boats provides intelligence on smuggling networks and evidence for high-level prosecutions. This is particularly true given that most of the documented flow of illicit drugs from South America to the United States takes place via shipping containers and clandestine submarines along Pacific-based routes, not in the Caribbean. The administration’s strikes are therefore not only illegal; they are also ineffective.
Despite its claims, the Trump administration does not prioritize countering drug trafficking. It has reassigned DEA agents and federal prosecutors from drug trafficking prosecutions to support the administration’s unpopular immigration enforcement agenda, resulting in the lowest levels of drug trafficking prosecutions in decades. Moreover, the Trump administration is eliminating the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which oversees and coordinates high-quality investigations and prosecutions of cartels and major trafficking organizations. Cuts to foreign assistance, meanwhile, have hampered successful drug enforcement operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. And the administration’s decision to return MS-13 gang leaders to El Salvador, rather than prosecute them, will likely empower the gang’s trafficking operations.
The administration has also slashed funding for drug use prevention and treatment, defunding federal prevention programs, canceling grants that support communities, and gutting federal research on addiction. It is estimated that the Big Beautiful Bill will cut off more than 150,000 people from opioid addiction treatment, and the administration is cutting an additional $26 billion for opioid and addiction treatment programs. These actions demonstrate a clear failure to address the underlying causes of drug use and addiction, threatening to reverse recent progress made in reducing opioid deaths through evidence-based community harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs.
If the administration were truly serious about combating drug trafficking organizations, it would:
- Prioritize high-quality, sustained investigations into cartel leadership and have the 2,000 DEA agents reassigned to immigration enforcement return to their regular duties.
- Strengthen ties with regional allies to expand intelligence sharing, joint prosecutions, and capacity-building assistance for counter-narcotics and the rule of law.
- Invest in evidence-based drug use prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery programs. This includes fully funding Medicaid, the country’s largest payer of substance use disorder treatment, and the Overdose Data to Action Program, which President Trump delayed and threatened to eliminate despite its proven success in reducing overdoses.