The families of two men who were killed by a US strike on their boat in the Caribbean Sea have used the White House to demand justice for the wrongful deaths of their loved ones.
The lawsuit alleges that Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, who were killed by a US bomb on October 14, were fishermen. The families are claiming standing for the lawsuit under the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute.
The ACLU is part of the legal team representing the families.
The Department of War has destroyed at least 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, justifying the lethal action by claiming the victims were members of narcoterrorist cartels, and in the process of bringing narcotics into the US.
The White House has not provided evidence to substantiate its allegation. The families of the men claim Joseph and Samaroo “were not members of, or affiliated with, drug cartels,” adding that the Trinidadian government has found no evidence of criminal activity.
President Donald Trump’s campaign to destroy alleged drug boats appears illegal on a number of levels. Drug enforcement is a law enforcement issue, and standard procedure would be to intercept the ships, inspect for drugs, and make arrests if narcotics are found. Senator Rand Paul has condemned the attacks as “extrajudicial killing.”
The White House has asserted that the strikes are justified as the US is at war with non-state drug traffickers. However, during the September 2 attack, US forces conducted a follow-on strike to kill the survivors after the vessel was disabled. The secondary strike would be a war crime even if the US were at war.
