The US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth announced today, October 24, that the U.S. had conducted an overnight strike against a boat allegedly operated by a drug cartel and smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean.
The strike, which Hegseth said killed six people, brings the total number of known targeted boats to 10 and the number of people killed to 43 since the U.S. began its campaign last month.
The strikes, which have been conducted without judicial proceedings or a declaration of war by Congress, have raised significant questions about the limits of presidential power. Just yesterday, Trump insisted that he can continue to launch these strikes against alleged drug traffickers without asking Congress for a declaration of war, stating, “I think we’re just doing to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country.”
The campaign has been sharply criticized by the governments of Colombia and Venezuela, countries where many of the targeted boats appear to have originated. The families of those killed have also voiced opposition, with some denying their relatives were involved in drug smuggling.
Hegseth said the boat most recently targeted was being operated by Tren de Aragua, a criminal cartel that President Trump designated as a foreign terrorist organization near the beginning of his second term. This gang has been targeted in previous U.S. boat strikes.
The defense secretary posted on X, stating that the vessel was known by U.S. intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics.
Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.
The vessel was known by our… pic.twitter.com/lVlw0FLBv4
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 24, 2025
