The families of two Trinidad and Tobago nationals killed during a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean last October have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the United States government, escalating scrutiny of Washington’s aggressive anti-drug operations at sea. The case represents the first legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s policy authorizing lethal force against suspected narco-trafficking vessels in international waters.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Massachusetts with support from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights. It seeks damages for the deaths of Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, both residents of Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago, who were killed when their boat was struck by a U.S. missile.
According to the complaint, the men had been fishing off the Venezuelan coast and working on farms in Venezuela before beginning their return journey home. Their families maintain the vessel was not engaged in drug smuggling and that neither Joseph nor Samaroo had any affiliation with criminal or terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit describes the strike as unlawful and extrajudicial, accusing U.S. officials of authorizing the intentional killing of civilians. “These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification,” the filing states, alleging the attack amounted to murder carried out under orders from senior government leaders.
President Trump announced the Oct. 14 operation on Truth Social, describing it as a “lethal kinetic strike” against a boat allegedly connected to a designated terrorist organization involved in narcotics trafficking. The president also released surveillance footage showing the vessel exploding after being hit. The strike was one of several conducted under the administration’s expanded maritime counter-narcotics campaign.
Between early September and late January, U.S. forces destroyed dozens of vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. According to figures cited by Military Times, those operations have resulted in more than 100 deaths, raising growing concerns among human rights advocates and international observers.
The White House has defended the October strike as a lawful military action aimed at protecting Americans from illicit drugs. Officials insist the operation targeted narcoterrorists operating in international waters and fell squarely within the president’s legal authority.
The lawsuit invokes the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute, arguing that even if the strike were considered part of an armed conflict, the killings violated international law by targeting civilians not engaged in hostilities against the United States. The Department of Justice has not commented on the case, while the Pentagon has declined to address the matter, citing ongoing litigation.
