In a move that has shocked legal experts and alarmed lawmakers, the Trump administration has formally declared that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with Caribbean drug cartels, invoking wartime powers to justify a series of deadly military strikes — without congressional approval.
According to a confidential notice sent to multiple congressional committees and obtained by The New York Times, the administration claims that cartels are “nonstate armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States,” effectively labeling them unlawful combatants in a newly declared “noninternational armed conflict.”
By calling traffickers ‘unlawful combatants,’ Trump is claiming the right to kill them like enemy soldiers.
At least 17 people have been killed in recent weeks by what the administration is calling “presidentially-directed” military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean. These strikes, conducted by U.S. military assets, are being justified under the President’s authority as Commander in Chief.
“The President directed these actions consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests abroad,” the administration’s notice to Congress reads.
But critics say this is a dangerous legal sleight of hand. The killings — conducted without trial, public oversight, or congressional approval — are being treated as lawful wartime acts. Except, the U.S. is not in a formally declared war. And most of the targets weren’t even confirmed enemies of the United States.
On September 2, Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. military had killed “Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists” who were “operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro,” Venezuela’s authoritarian president. The attack reportedly killed 11 people on a vessel. Venezuela has since said none of those killed were connected to the gang, raising the stakes on whether the administration may have committed extrajudicial killings under false pretenses.
Trump followed up with two more strikes: one on September 15, killing three more alleged “terrorists,” and another on September 19, which left at least three people dead. He claimed the final strike was aimed at a vessel “trafficking illicit narcotics” and “en route to poison Americans.”
None of the deaths have been publicly investigated. No evidence has been made available. And no legal justification beyond Trump’s own authority has been offered.
The move is sparking intense backlash from lawmakers and human rights advocates.
“Every American should be alarmed that President Trump has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he labels an enemy,” said Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Drug cartels must be stopped, but declaring war [and] ordering lethal military force without Congress or public knowledge — nor legal justification — is unacceptable.”
The administration claims that cartels “illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year,” an apparent attempt to equate drug smuggling with an act of war. But international law and U.S. precedent don’t support that leap.
Neither the designation of a group as a “foreign terrorist organization” nor Trump’s January executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act permits the use of lethal force. At best, they allow for deportation and asset seizure. Not drone strikes.
“Deploying lethal force on suspicion of illegal activity violates the letter and spirit of more than a century of international standards,” said the Washington Office on Latin America, a nonprofit that monitors U.S. policy in the region.
The administration has also refused to disclose what evidence was used to justify any of the strikes, citing national security concerns.
Shift away from drug enforcement
The sudden militarization of drug enforcement comes after significant cuts to civilian drug enforcement efforts.
According to Reuters, federal prosecutions of drug traffickers have dropped to the lowest level in decades. More than 2,000 DEA agents have been reassigned to immigration enforcement. And now, the Department of Justice is reportedly planning to shutter the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces — the very agency built to target major trafficking organizations — as part of a budget-driven reorganization.
In other words, while Trump wages war on drug gangs in the Caribbean, the U.S. is quietly dismantling the civilian infrastructure meant to fight drugs at home.
Escalating tensions with Venezuela
Trump’s decision to link Tren de Aragua to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro could also drag the U.S. into a broader conflict with the already hostile regime.
The administration claims that Tren de Aragua is operating under Maduro’s control — a claim Venezuela has denied and which remains unproven. If that connection is false or exaggerated, the U.S. could be violating international law by conducting unauthorized military operations against a sovereign nation’s citizens.
What started as a war on drugs is now looking more and more like a covert war on Venezuela.
So far, Congress has not approved any military action. The strikes have not been debated in public hearings. The administration appears to be relying entirely on presidential war powers — the same authority used to justify targeted killings of terrorists overseas — and applying it to drug smugglers.
But drug smuggling, even deadly, does not make someone an enemy combatant. Not under U.S. law. Not under international law.
“Lethal force must be the exception, not the rule,” said one former senior Pentagon legal adviser. “This is an enormous expansion of executive power with no clear boundaries.”
The White House did not return a request for comment.
