The Trump administration carried out another deadly maritime strike Friday in the eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one reported survivor missing in what marked the third boat bombing in five days. The latest attack has intensified criticism from legal experts and human rights advocates who argue the administration is conducting unlawful killings without publicly proving the targeted vessels were engaged in criminal activity.
U.S. Southern Command announced the operation on social media, stating that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” In a separate statement cited in reporting on the strike, the military claimed the vessel was operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations.”
The administration has not publicly released evidence supporting those allegations.
Friday’s strike was the 57th carried out under the administration’s maritime anti-drug campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. According to the reporting surrounding the operation, the strikes have now killed at least 192 people.
Military experts cited in the source material have described the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings, arguing that the government is using lethal force against suspected traffickers without arrests, prosecutions or trials. Critics also note that the administration has repeatedly labeled targets as smugglers or terrorists without presenting publicly verifiable evidence.
The latest strike drew particular attention because one person reportedly survived the attack. U.S. Southern Command said it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate a “Search and Rescue system.” A U.S. official later said the Mexican Navy was overseeing efforts to locate the missing survivor.
Survivors have rarely emerged from the administration’s bombing campaign. According to the reporting, survivors were lost at sea in all but two of the previous attacks.
The administration’s pace of strikes has accelerated in recent weeks despite mounting criticism. According to reporting by The Intercept referenced in the articles, three separate bombings occurred within a five-day span this month. A May 4 strike in the Caribbean killed two people. A May 5 strike in the Pacific killed three more. Friday’s Pacific strike killed two and left one person missing.
Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth sharply condemned the attacks after the latest bombing became public.
“Under [President Donald] Trump’s illegal orders, the US military conducted its third boat strike in five days against supposed drug smugglers, killing at least two. Each of these is a murder. Drug suspects should be arrested and prosecuted, not summarily executed,” Roth wrote on social media Saturday.
The administration’s treatment of survivors has drawn additional scrutiny because of earlier reporting about the campaign’s first strike. According to reports referenced in the source material, commanders allegedly ordered a vessel bombed a second time after survivors were observed in the water. The reports tied the order to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody.”
The latest search-and-rescue announcement appeared to differ from previous incidents in which survivors either disappeared at sea or were never recovered.
The administration has defended the strikes as part of a broader effort to reduce narcotics entering the United States. Trump claimed drug trafficking by sea had fallen by 97 percent as a result of the campaign.
However, analysts and former officials cited in the reporting disputed that claim. Retired Rear Adm. William Baumgartner told The Intercept that the administration’s own data contradicted Trump’s assertions regarding drug flow reductions.
Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, also challenged the administration’s claims.
“Really absurdly, there’s been no impact on flows of drugs toward the United States,” Isacson said.
According to the reporting, Customs and Border Protection seized 6,000 pounds more cocaine at all U.S. borders during the seven months following the start of the strikes than during the seven months before the campaign began.
Questions surrounding the identities of those killed have also continued to grow. The administration has not publicly demonstrated that the vessels targeted were involved in trafficking operations, while relatives of some victims have reportedly said their family members were fishermen rather than smugglers.
The military has continued relying on references to intelligence assessments and trafficking routes without disclosing the evidence used to justify individual strikes.
Critics argue the administration’s strategy effectively bypasses the criminal justice system by treating suspects as combatants instead of criminal defendants entitled to due process protections.
Social media user Andrew Marinelli challenged the administration’s use of terrorism language in response to Southern Command’s announcement.
“What do you call a US citizen who smuggles drugs, SOUTHCOM? A ‘narco-terrorist’?” Marinelli wrote.
“If a US citizen [allegedly] drove drugs into Canada and they blew him away with a drone strike, would you accept it?” he added.
The administration’s maritime campaign has also renewed debate over the expansion of military authority in anti-drug operations across international waters. Legal experts and rights advocates cited in the reporting argue the strikes resemble targeted executions rather than conventional law enforcement actions.
At the same time, critics say the administration has failed to show the campaign is accomplishing its stated objective of reducing narcotics trafficking into the United States.
Sanho Tree, director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ Drug Policy Project, questioned the credibility of the administration’s public claims.
“It wouldn’t be the first time this administration just made up something out of whole cloth,” Tree said.
As the death toll from the strikes approaches 200, the administration has continued expanding the campaign while providing limited public information about how targets are selected, what legal standards govern the operations or how officials verify that those killed were actually involved in trafficking activity.
Friday’s strike, which left one person missing after the bombing, has further intensified questions surrounding the legality, transparency and effectiveness of the administration’s maritime operations.
“Really absurdly, there’s been no impact on flows of drugs toward the United States,” Isacson said.
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