The RecordExhibit 45
Blowing up boats, and the survivors
Alleged means: Serious, credible accusations of illegality that no court or watchdog has decided yet.
U.S. forces began destroying alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific with no trials and little public evidence. At least 234 people have been killed in 70 strikes.
What happened
After the very first strike, two men clung to the burning wreckage for roughly 45 minutes before a second strike killed them. The Washington Post reported Defense Secretary Hegseth had given a verbal order to kill everybody; he said he didn't personally see survivors and blamed the fog of war. Across the campaign, 23 survivors are presumed dead. Drug policy experts say the results are mixed, since smugglers have many other routes into the country.
Where it stands
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UN experts call the strikes extrajudicial killings, and military law experts say killing shipwreck survivors breaks the laws of war. In September, UN special rapporteur Ben Saul wrote that there are reasonable grounds to believe the strikes amount to crimes against humanity. In May 2026 the Pentagon's inspector general opened an investigation into how strike targets are chosen, approved and assessed. Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed in an October 2025 strike have sued for wrongful death. In a bipartisan defense bill, Congress withheld part of Hegseth's travel budget until unedited strike video is handed over. On Sept. 30, 2026, Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected most of the administration's reasons for keeping secret the 40-page Justice Department memo it cites as the legal basis for the strikes, finding the Pentagon has treated the memo as its effective law, and ordered it turned over for his private review by Oct. 14.
The administration's side
The administration told Congress the U.S. is in an armed conflict with cartels, that those killed are unlawful combatants, and that a classified Justice Department opinion authorizes the strikes. Trump says the strikes have stopped 97% of the drugs coming in by sea. Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the first strike, has denied that Hegseth ordered troops to kill everybody.
Sources
Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/boats/