Family members of two Trinidadian men killed in a U.S. missile strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat near Venezuela filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Boston, challenging the legality of the attack.
The lawsuit marks the first legal challenge to one of 36 U.S. Navy strikes authorized by President Donald Trump’s administration since September, which civil rights groups say have killed at least 125 people.
The October 14 strike killed six people, including Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41. According to the lawsuit, the men had worked in fishing and farming in Venezuela and were returning home to Las Cuevas, Trinidad, when the boat was struck.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed the suit on behalf of Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, and Samaroo’s sister, Sallycar Korasingh. The complaint argues the strike was unlawful under U.S. and international law and filed claims under the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute, which allow for wrongful death and international law violation lawsuits in U.S. courts.
“This lawsuit is a demand for accountability and a defense of the rule of law,” said Brett Max Kaufman, an ACLU attorney representing the families.
The suit seeks monetary damages only and does not request an injunction to stop future strikes. However, it could open a pathway for courts to review the legality of U.S. military campaigns in international waters.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the strike, calling it a lawful action against “designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores.” She said President Trump acted within his authority to combat illegal drug trafficking.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth oversaw the campaign, which the Trump administration has described as a war on drug cartels. Officials say the strikes follow the law of armed conflict, though some legal experts dispute whether drug cartels qualify as armed groups under international law.
The lawsuit contends that Joseph and Samaroo were not engaged in hostilities and were outside any armed conflict. It argues their deaths should be considered extrajudicial killings.
“If the U.S. government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him,” Korasingh said in a statement. “They must be held accountable.”
