Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced another strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific, which left at least two people dead and brings the total death toll from the Trump administration’s attacks so far to 66.
The U.S. began opening fire on boats in the Caribbean on September 2 and has since expanded its assaults to the Pacific, with the administration justifying its actions by claiming it is stopping illegal drug smugglers from reaching American shores while failing to provide evidence to support its assertions.
Human rights groups and experts in international law have warned that the killings are illegal, and the governments of Colombia and Venezuela have accused the administration of engaging in extrajudicial murder.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Hegseth included 18 seconds of night-vision footage of the most recent strike, which showed the vessel being hit multiple times and a fire raging on board, sending a thick plume of billowing smoke across the otherwise calm ocean waves. The occupants of the boat were blocked out in the footage.
“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” the secretary wrote.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. The strike was conducted in international waters in the Eastern Pacific.
“No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, and two male narco-terrorists – who were aboard the vessel – were killed. We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens. Protecting the homeland is our TOP priority. NO cartel terrorist stands a chance against the American military.”
Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties have pressed the administration for more information on who is being targeted and the legal basis for its actions.
By way of response, Trump has insisted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the George W Bush administration when it declared its “War on Terror” after the Al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.
In his commentary on The Daily Show Monday, host Jon Stewart cited the killings as he attacked the administration for defering to the courts on whether or not it could refinance SNAP during the government shutdown, arguing that its sudden interest in following the “rules of the road” was at odds with its lack of concern for due process in the case of the accused drug traffickers.
The latest attack comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has left the Mediterranean on its way to the Caribbean, following Hegseth's order to the region more than a week ago.
It will join an already robust buildup of U.S. planes, ships, and thousands of troops in Latin America.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Ford and the destroyer USS Bainbridge crossed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic on Tuesday.
The Ford initially deployed with five destroyers, but it is unclear whether all of them will proceed to the Caribbean. Two of the other destroyers in the Ford’s strike group, the USS Winston Churchill and the USS Mahan, are in the Mediterranean now, with the latter in port at Rota, Spain.
The other two destroyers, the USS Forrest Sherman and the USS Mitchener, are in the Red Sea, the official said.
Additional reporting by agencies.
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