At a Glance
- Two Trinidadian families are suing the U.S. government after their sons were killed in a boat strike.
- The lawsuit claims the strikes were premeditated and lacked legal justification.
- The case is filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
- Why it matters: It challenges U.S. military actions in international waters and raises questions about the legality of targeted strikes.
The families of two Trinidadian men, Rishi Samaroo and Chad Joseph, are suing the U.S. government after their sons were killed in a boat strike in the Caribbean Sea. The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. military deliberately targeted the boats without any evidence that the men were involved in drug trafficking or terrorism.
Background of the Strikes
On October 12, 2025, Rishi Samaroo, 41, called his sister to tell her he had found a boat ride back to Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago after working on a dairy farm in Venezuela for two months. Two days later, on October 14, 2025, the U.S. military detonated a boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people, including Samaroo and Joseph.
The U.S. has carried out 36 lethal military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 125 people. The strikes have been justified by the administration as a response to drug trafficking and alleged ties to designated terrorist organizations.
Key Facts
- 125 people killed in 36 strikes
- 36 lethal strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific
- October 14, 2025: Boat strike that killed Samaroo and Joseph
- January 23, 2026: Latest strike in the eastern Pacific
The Families’ Legal Action
Samaroo’s sister, Sallycar Korasingh, and Chad Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, filed a complaint in federal district court in Massachusetts. They argue that the killings were premeditated, intentional, and lacked any plausible legal justification.
> “Rishi used to call our family almost every day, and then one day he disappeared, and we never heard from him again,” Korasingh said in a press release shared by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the pair alongside Seton Hall University and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
> “If the U.S. government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”
The lawsuit seeks damages under the Death on the High Seas Act and the federal Alien Tort Statute. It also requests that the U.S. government be held accountable for the alleged extrajudicial killings.
Legal Representation
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Seton Hall University
- Center for Constitutional Rights
Government Defense
The Trump administration maintains that the boats were involved in drug trafficking. On October 14, 2025, President Donald Trump posted on social media that the boat Samaroo and Joseph were on was “affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking,” claiming that intelligence confirmed this affiliation.
The administration also cites an unpublished memo from the Office of Legal Counsel, asserting that the U.S. government is engaged in an armed international conflict with unspecified drug cartels in Latin America. The memo allegedly justifies the strikes as part of that conflict.
> “Because there is, in fact, no non-international armed conflict with the drug cartels purportedly targeted in the strikes (and no evidence that the boats targeted are associated with cartels), the killings violate the bedrock prohibition against extrajudicial killing and are simply murders on the high seas,” the complaint reads.
A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
Current Status and Implications
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The case is currently pending, and the U.S. government has not yet responded publicly beyond the Pentagon’s statement.
The strike on January 23, 2026 in the eastern Pacific, which killed two alleged “narco-terrorists,” shows that the policy of targeting boats has continued. One survivor from that strike was reported.
Potential Impact
- The case could set a legal precedent for the conduct of U.S. military operations in international waters.
- It may prompt a review of the criteria used to justify targeted strikes on civilian vessels.
- The outcome could influence future U.S. policy on anti-drug operations in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Key Takeaways
- Two Trinidadian families have sued the U.S. government over the deaths of their sons in a boat strike.
- The lawsuit claims the strikes were unlawful and lacked evidence of drug trafficking.
- The U.S. administration defends the strikes as part of an anti-drug campaign linked to designated terrorist organizations.
- The case is pending in federal court, with potential implications for U.S. military conduct abroad.
—
Word Count: ~950
