Published: 10:16, January 28, 2026
Trump administration sued over US boat strike involving Trinidadian nationals
By Xinhua
This aerial view shows a snow-covered Arlington, Virginia, including the Pentagon and the Potomac River from Air Force One on Jan 27, 2026. (PHOTO / AFP)

WASHINGTON - Family members of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, accusing it of wrongful death and extrajudicial killings.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind filed against the Trump administration in federal court over the Pentagon's strikes that have sunk over 30 suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, resulting in more than 110 deaths.

Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were killed in the US boat strike on Oct 14 when they were returning from Venezuela to their homes in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago.

ALSO READ: US military strikes another alleged drug boat in eastern Pacific, killing 3

Their family members said in the lawsuit that the men "had been fishing in waters off the Venezuelan coast and working on farms in Venezuela."

US President Donald Trump said on Oct 14 that the strike killed all six men aboard, calling them "six male narcoterrorists" on a vessel "affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization" and engaged in drug trafficking.

READ MORE: Trump says US strikes ‘dock area’ in Venezuela

The lawsuit was brought by Joseph's mother and Samaroo's sister on behalf of other surviving family members. It was filed by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School.