Families of 2 men killed in boat strike sue Trump administration over attack they call ‘unlawful’
January 27, 2026
Families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike last October are suing the federal government, calling the attack a war crime and part of an “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful U.S. military campaign.” The lawsuit filed Tuesday is thought to be the first wrongful death case arising from the three dozen strikes the administration has launched since September on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. Government officials have defended the strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the United States but many legal experts say they amount to a brazen violation of the laws of armed conflict.