SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A boat in the Pacific Ocean targeted for military strike by the Trump administration on October 21, 2025.
(Image: Screen shot via Pete Hegseth/X)
'Another Unlawful Extrajudicial Killing' as Trump Expands Boat-Bombing Spree to Pacific
"This is illegal and endangers America," said one critic of Trump's boat-bombing campaign.
Oct 22, 2025
The Trump administration launched another military strike on a purported drug trafficking boat on Tuesday night, and for the first time expanded its campaign of extrajudicial killing to the Pacific Ocean.
In a social media post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that President Donald Trump had authorized "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a designated terrorist organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific." Hegseth also said that the strike killed two passengers who were aboard the vessel.
This marks at least the eighth time the US military has attacked a purported drug-trafficking boat, although the previous seven strikes took place in the Caribbean. Collectively, the strikes have killed at least 34 people.
In the wake of the latest boat attack, many Trump critics once again slammed the administration for carrying out what they described as acts of murder.
Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer at The Atlantic, described the attack as "another unlawful extrajudicial killing of a boat our military could have stopped and investigated."
Friedersdorf also emphasized that these killings would be unlawful even if the people on the boats were involved in narcotics trafficking.
"Even when convicted drug smugglers go to court, they don't get the death penalty," he wrote. "This is immoral."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director for Human Rights Watch, tore apart the administration's legal argument for treating alleged drug smuggling as an act of war by a hostile foreign power.
"Trump's rationale for his repeated murders at sea don't hold water," he wrote in a post on X. "There is no 'self-defense' because no one is attacking the United States. There is no 'armed conflict' because there are no hostilities approaching a war."
Jill Wine-Banks, former Watergate prosecutor and US general counsel of the Army, warned in a post on Bluesky about the dangers of further widening Trump's bombing campaign.
"He must be stopped," she wrote. "This is illegal and endangers America."
Journalist Mark Jacob said he was highly skeptical that the administration was carrying out these attacks to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
"The Trump regime lies all the time," he wrote on Bluesky. "A more likely explanation for these attacks is US imperialism: Trump wants to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela (with vast oil reserves) and intimidate Colombia (which criticized previous attacks)."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro this past weekend said that the Trump administration had "committed a murder" after one of its boat attacks killed a Colombian citizen named Alejandro Carranza, who had been out on a fishing trip when the US military attacked his boat.
Trump responded by baselessly calling Petro "an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs," while also levying new tariffs against Colombia.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Trump administration launched another military strike on a purported drug trafficking boat on Tuesday night, and for the first time expanded its campaign of extrajudicial killing to the Pacific Ocean.
In a social media post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that President Donald Trump had authorized "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a designated terrorist organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific." Hegseth also said that the strike killed two passengers who were aboard the vessel.
This marks at least the eighth time the US military has attacked a purported drug-trafficking boat, although the previous seven strikes took place in the Caribbean. Collectively, the strikes have killed at least 34 people.
In the wake of the latest boat attack, many Trump critics once again slammed the administration for carrying out what they described as acts of murder.
Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer at The Atlantic, described the attack as "another unlawful extrajudicial killing of a boat our military could have stopped and investigated."
Friedersdorf also emphasized that these killings would be unlawful even if the people on the boats were involved in narcotics trafficking.
"Even when convicted drug smugglers go to court, they don't get the death penalty," he wrote. "This is immoral."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director for Human Rights Watch, tore apart the administration's legal argument for treating alleged drug smuggling as an act of war by a hostile foreign power.
"Trump's rationale for his repeated murders at sea don't hold water," he wrote in a post on X. "There is no 'self-defense' because no one is attacking the United States. There is no 'armed conflict' because there are no hostilities approaching a war."
Jill Wine-Banks, former Watergate prosecutor and US general counsel of the Army, warned in a post on Bluesky about the dangers of further widening Trump's bombing campaign.
"He must be stopped," she wrote. "This is illegal and endangers America."
Journalist Mark Jacob said he was highly skeptical that the administration was carrying out these attacks to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
"The Trump regime lies all the time," he wrote on Bluesky. "A more likely explanation for these attacks is US imperialism: Trump wants to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela (with vast oil reserves) and intimidate Colombia (which criticized previous attacks)."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro this past weekend said that the Trump administration had "committed a murder" after one of its boat attacks killed a Colombian citizen named Alejandro Carranza, who had been out on a fishing trip when the US military attacked his boat.
Trump responded by baselessly calling Petro "an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs," while also levying new tariffs against Colombia.
From Your Site Articles
- Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home ›
- Migrant Drownings in Pacific Soared 3,200% After Trump Raised Border Wall: Study ›
- Trump Won't Stop With Venezuela: Rubio Indicates Broader Campaign of Lawless Executions ›
- Trump, Who Incited Jan 6 Insurrection, Wants Sedition Charges for Lawmakers Reminding Troops of Duty to Disobey Illegal Orders | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | The Caribbean Strikes and the Moral Collapse of American Power | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | Trump's Murder Spree Must Be Stopped | Common Dreams ›
- 'This Is Murder': Trump Strike Kills 3 More Boaters in the Pacific | Common Dreams ›
Related Articles Around the Web
The Trump administration launched another military strike on a purported drug trafficking boat on Tuesday night, and for the first time expanded its campaign of extrajudicial killing to the Pacific Ocean.
In a social media post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that President Donald Trump had authorized "a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a designated terrorist organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific." Hegseth also said that the strike killed two passengers who were aboard the vessel.
This marks at least the eighth time the US military has attacked a purported drug-trafficking boat, although the previous seven strikes took place in the Caribbean. Collectively, the strikes have killed at least 34 people.
In the wake of the latest boat attack, many Trump critics once again slammed the administration for carrying out what they described as acts of murder.
Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer at The Atlantic, described the attack as "another unlawful extrajudicial killing of a boat our military could have stopped and investigated."
Friedersdorf also emphasized that these killings would be unlawful even if the people on the boats were involved in narcotics trafficking.
"Even when convicted drug smugglers go to court, they don't get the death penalty," he wrote. "This is immoral."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director for Human Rights Watch, tore apart the administration's legal argument for treating alleged drug smuggling as an act of war by a hostile foreign power.
"Trump's rationale for his repeated murders at sea don't hold water," he wrote in a post on X. "There is no 'self-defense' because no one is attacking the United States. There is no 'armed conflict' because there are no hostilities approaching a war."
Jill Wine-Banks, former Watergate prosecutor and US general counsel of the Army, warned in a post on Bluesky about the dangers of further widening Trump's bombing campaign.
"He must be stopped," she wrote. "This is illegal and endangers America."
Journalist Mark Jacob said he was highly skeptical that the administration was carrying out these attacks to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
"The Trump regime lies all the time," he wrote on Bluesky. "A more likely explanation for these attacks is US imperialism: Trump wants to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela (with vast oil reserves) and intimidate Colombia (which criticized previous attacks)."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro this past weekend said that the Trump administration had "committed a murder" after one of its boat attacks killed a Colombian citizen named Alejandro Carranza, who had been out on a fishing trip when the US military attacked his boat.
Trump responded by baselessly calling Petro "an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs," while also levying new tariffs against Colombia.
From Your Site Articles
- Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home ›
- Migrant Drownings in Pacific Soared 3,200% After Trump Raised Border Wall: Study ›
- Trump Won't Stop With Venezuela: Rubio Indicates Broader Campaign of Lawless Executions ›
- Trump, Who Incited Jan 6 Insurrection, Wants Sedition Charges for Lawmakers Reminding Troops of Duty to Disobey Illegal Orders | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | The Caribbean Strikes and the Moral Collapse of American Power | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | Trump's Murder Spree Must Be Stopped | Common Dreams ›
- 'This Is Murder': Trump Strike Kills 3 More Boaters in the Pacific | Common Dreams ›
Related Articles Around the Web
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.