Date: Nov 18, 2025
Dear LAWGista,
Eighty-three people have been murdered in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans by the Trump administration since September 2, 2025. Blown to pieces in the open seas. No presumption of innocence and no due process. This is an unethical and illegal use of force targeting Latin Americans.
By now, we may be accustomed to this administration’s gaudy publicity stunts, but these extrajudicial killings are cruel and inhumane.
The Trump administration is claiming the power to do things that are plainly illegal—whether it is sending Venezuelans to CECOT in El Salvador, extrajudicial killings on the high seas, or taking back funds appropriated by Congress for their own agenda. They allege that the victims are “terrorists” or “gangs” or “invaders,” killed without proof or without review by other branches of government. No due process and completely illegal.
LAWG’s friends and partners in the region are deeply concerned that these unlawful attacks will morph into a larger regional conflict and that will have unintended consequences. Not only is there the threat of grave human rights violations, at risk are dismantling regional cooperation on areas such as trade and drug trafficking, destabilizing legitimate commerce like maritime industries and tourism, and disrupting the integrated economies on the extensive Colombia and Venezuela border.
And where will it stop? NBC reported that the Trump administration has begun drawing up plans for a military incursion into Mexico under the same subterfuge it is using to blow up fishing vessels in South America. Endless war is not popular with U.S. voters across the political spectrum. Polling shows 62% of Americans oppose invading Venezuela, oppose the boat strikes, and support due process for all.
Equally concerning is that this could also come home to the U.S. If President Trump can unilaterally declare war on “narcoterrorists” in the Caribbean, he can use that same justification to target Americans here. In a recent meeting at Quantico, Trump urged military commanders to treat “dangerous cities” like Chicago and Los Angeles as “training grounds” for domestic deployments—a direct echo of his rhetoric describing a “war from within”—similar logic to the one the Trump administration is using for the extrajudicial killings on the high seas.
Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans narrowly defeated S.J. Res. 90—the War Powers Resolution that would have reasserted Congress’s role to curtail the use of hostilities in the region. With the House of Representatives now back in session, we are mobilizing around Representative Ilhan Omar’s War Powers Resolution, co-signed by Representatives Greg Casar, Chuy Garcia, and Jim McGovern. If passed, it will send a strong message to the administration, and constituents can see how their representative voted.
A vote on this WPR is expected in fifteen days, and it will be all hands on deck to urge our representatives to vote in favor of it. We know that representatives on both sides of the aisle are very concerned about executive overreach, the illegality of these actions, and the potential for an endless war.
While we don’t have a concrete date, we do know that repeated calls to elected officials keep the pressure on them. Help us keep that pressure on by calling your representative regularly up to the day of the vote. Thank you and stay tuned!
Watch this space.
Adelante,
Vicki Gass
LAWG Executive Director
