The ACLU is bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of two Trinidadian men killed in an Oct. 14 boat strike, claiming they were innocent passengers on what the Pentagon has insisted was a drug-trafficking vessel.
Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were heading home from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was targeted in one of at least 36 strikes on vessels accused of trafficking drugs, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court of Massachusetts.
The families — Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, and Samaroo’s sister, Sallycar Korasingh — are suing, citing US and international law in a case also supported by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The complaint argues the men posed no specific threat and were unlawfully targeted, invoking the Death on the High Seas Act, a US statute that allows relatives to sue for wrongful deaths occurring on international waters, and the Alien Tort Statute, which lets non‑Americans bring claims in US courts for violations of international law
The lawsuit contends that because neither Joseph nor Samaroo posed an imminent threat, the strike violated both domestic law and international human‑rights norms. The lawsuit claims there is no disclosed evidence they pair were tied to drug trafficking or cartel activity.
The families are demanding an unspecified amount of compensation.
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The White House pushed back against the lawsuit’s allegations against the Operation Southern Spear boat strike,
“The October 14th strike was conducted against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores,” White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Post.
“President Trump used his lawful authority to take decisive action against the scourge of illicit narcotics that has resulted in the needless deaths of innocent Americans.”
The US has killed at least 126 in the narcoterrorism strikes, which began in September.
