Unilateral lethal strikes on alleged drug boats, without Congress

Editor's note: government records and reporting document the strikes and their legal basis, and legal experts dispute their lawfulness, but no court or official finding establishes that they were unlawful.

Beginning September 2, 2025, the administration launched a campaign of military strikes on vessels it alleged were smuggling drugs from Venezuela and elsewhere, part of an operation the Pentagon called Operation Southern Spear. By early December, more than 20 strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific had killed upwards of 80 people. The administration had designated Tren de Aragua and the 'Cartel de los Soles' as terrorist organizations and asserted the United States was in a 'non-international armed conflict' with them.

Trump justified the strikes to Congress under his Article II authority as commander in chief and an asserted right of self-defense, and the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel produced a classified opinion providing legal cover. Legal experts and former officials disputed that basis. Many described killing people on suspicion of drug trafficking, without trial, as extrajudicial killing, and a group of former military lawyers, along with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, called at least the September 2 follow-up strike a likely war crime. Secretary Hegseth's specific role in ordering that follow-up strike is documented separately in the subordinate-conduct bucket.

Congress pushed back but did not stop the campaign. Senators Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff repeatedly brought War Powers resolutions to require congressional authorization and to bar military action inside Venezuela, and the Senate voted the measures down on two occasions. The administration also declined to release unedited footage of the strikes to most of Congress, limiting access to select committees, and separately signed an executive order designating fentanyl a chemical weapon.