US launches strikes on alleged drug boats, but 11 deaths in one day are raising legal alarms

The U.S. military says it launched new strikes on alleged drug boats on Monday, resulting in 11 deaths in a single day. The deaths mark one of the deadliest days so far in President Trump’s campaign against what his administration calls “narco-terrorists.”

The incident came to light through The Guardian, which reported the strikes pushed the total number of fatalities from U.S. attacks at sea to 145 since September. That was when Trump first directed American forces to attack people on small vessels suspected of drug trafficking, with 42 known strikes reported across routes in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Southern Command posted video of the latest strikes to X and said intelligence confirmed the vessels were traveling along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in trafficking operations. The post said four men were killed on one boat in the eastern Pacific, four on another vessel in the eastern Pacific, and three on a vessel in the Caribbean, and added that no U.S. forces were harmed.

The death toll is raising new questions about legality

The report said U.S. Southern Command carried out two deadly boat strikes last week as well, citing similar claims that those targeted were suspected of drug trafficking. The same news cycle also included Anderson Cooper’s CBS exit. The video posted about the latest strikes did not clearly confirm the allegation, according to the report.

Legal experts cited in the report questioned the legality of the boat strike initiative, arguing the attacks could amount to extrajudicial military killings in the absence of an imminent threat. An analysis from the Washington Office on Latin America said those killed at sea are denied due process and argued the administration is asserting broad authority to kill people it deems terrorists.

The strikes follow weeks after U.S. forces attacked Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces trial in New York on drugs, weapons, and narco-terrorism charges. The report said the Pentagon initially deployed more than a dozen warships near Venezuela to block drug trafficking and the illegal oil trade, and the administration has also issued a Pentagon AI ultimatum. Several vessels have since been redirected eastward amid Trump’s military threats to Iran over its nuclear weapons program.