A first-of-its-kind lawsuit was brought against the United States on Tuesday by the families of two men killed in a U.S. airstrike on suspected drug boats.
Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were returning to Trinidad from Venezuela with four other men on Oct. 14 when they were killed by the strike, which was the fifth authorized by President Donald Trump in the Caribbean. Their families are suing for wrongful death. Attorneys from the ACLU, Seton Hall University and the Center for Constitutional Rights are representing the families in Massachusetts federal district court.
“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him,” Samaroo’s sister Sallycar Korasingh said in a statement released by the ACLU.
The Caribbean campaign has killed at least 126 people since the first strike on Sept. 2, with the most recent airstrike occurring on Jan. 23. Many legal experts believe these strikes are unlawful, but the Trump administration argues they are legal, claiming the targets are “combatants” in an armed conflict against narco-terrorists. The men killed in the Oct. 14 attack have not been identified as associated with any specific organization, and it is not clear if their boat was carrying any drugs.
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“This is uncharted water. Never before in the country’s history has the government asserted this type of power,” attorney Jonathan Hafetz told The Guardian. “This is a clear example of unlawful killing by the United States. The U.S. is assuming the prerogative to kill victims in international waters.”
