TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

URGE CONGRESS: INTERVENE TO STOP U.S. MURDER ON HIGH SEAS

The U.S. military is committing murder and we need your help to stop it: Since September, repeated air strikes targeting small unidentified boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean have killed more than 180 people in operations that the Trump administration characterizes as attacks against "narco-terrorists." These strikes are illegal under international human rights law.

If the U.S. government can unilaterally decide to bomb anyone it labels a "terrorist" — anywhere, anytime — it sets a chilling global precedent. No government should have the power to kill without accountability.

Sign on to send your letter in one-click: Urge Congress to act immediately to halt these illegal airstrikes and hold those responsible to account.

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Dear Congressperson,

I am writing on behalf of Amnesty International to express my great concern about the repeated air strikes conducted by the U.S. military against unidentified boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean that have killed over 180 people since September 2025 and are continuing to this day. The strikes constitute a clear violation of the right to life under international human rights law, and they set a dangerous precedent. The use of lethal force in this context has no justification.

Amnesty just signed on with more than 120 organizations demanding an end to these extrajudicial killings: https://civiliansinconflict.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/An-open-call-to-all-States-to-stop-facilitating-extrajudicial-killings.pdf

The intentional use of lethal force is governed by law enforcement standards under international human rights law. It can only be used when strictly necessary to protect life from an imminent threat, and when no less harmful means, such as capture, are available. Moreover, any use of lethal force must be proportionate to the threat faced in the prevailing circumstances, particularly with a view to minimizing risks posed to human life and personal integrity.

The repeated lethal strikes against what the U.S. government alleges to be drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific amount to extrajudicial killings. President Trump, Secretary Rubio and other Trump administration’s public comments about these strikes, as well as the continuation of these strikes over the course of several weeks, suggest this is a new policy of extrajudicial killings that violates both the rights to life and to due process.

The people in these vessels have faced no investigation or trial for allegedly committing a crime, and their activities or potential membership in a cartel are immaterial when it comes to protection of the rights to life and due process. Furthermore, outside the context of an armed conflict, the use of lethal force by the U.S. military for policing actions is broadly unlawful. As there is currently not an armed conflict between the United States and any states or armed groups in the Caribbean, the U.S. government cannot invoke the laws of war to justify the strikes. Law enforcement operations remain exclusively governed by international human rights law and standards.

If the U.S. Congress has stated this type of action should not be tolerated elsewhere, it should condemn this behavior by the U.S. government and call for accountability. Permitting extrajudicial killings violates international law and undermines principles long stated as cherished by this country. Practically, Congress should be addressing underfunding in direct services and healthcare if they want to play a meaningful role in helping eradicate the U.S.'s opioid crisis domestically, not supporting extrajudicial killings.

We call on you to begin a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into these strikes. The U.S. government must ensure that intentional lethal force is only used in response to imminent threat to life, and when no less harmful means, such as capture or non-lethal incapacitation, is possible, and the use of force must be s proportionate in the prevailing circumstances. Further, Congress should thoroughly reject the administration’s increasing use of the military to execute law enforcement activities. Conducting aerial strikes to stop alleged criminal activity must not be normalized.

Congress must not rubber stamp further unlawful strikes. It should use all available means to stop the administration from continuing these strikes and hold the administration accountable for its illegal actions. Whether abuses are domestic or foreign, we need you to stand up against them.

Sincerely,

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