Relatives of two Trinidadian men sue U.S. government over military boat strike

Relatives of two Trinidadian men filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Federal District Court in Boston, bringing the first legal challenge in an American court to President Trump’s policy of targeting vessels suspected of smuggling drugs at sea. The suit was filed by the mother of Chad Joseph and the sister of Rishi Samaroo and says the men vanished after telling family they were about to take a boat home from Venezuela in mid-October.

The complaint, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights and naming the U.S. government as defendant, seeks monetary damages; the White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond. The strike involving the two men was the fifth of 36 such attacks to date, which the article says have killed at least 126 people.

The Trump administration has argued the killings are lawful because Mr. Trump “determined” there is a formal state of armed conflict with a secret list of 24 drug cartels and gangs he has deemed terrorists; outside experts have broadly disputed that theory, and the administration has not shown congressional authorization or explained how drug trafficking amounts to an armed attack.

Key Topics

Politics, U.s. Government, Chad Joseph, Rishi Samaroo, Aclu, Boston