US boat strikes killed over 200 people. Service members have questions [View all]
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
USA TODAY
June 6, 2026 Updated June 7, 2026, 10:33 a.m. ET
The U.S. military has killed more than 200 people in strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in the past nine months in what legal experts and former military lawyers broadly agree constitute illegal military orders that service members should refuse to follow.
While there is no record of troops refusing to follow these orders, at least a handful of service members grappling with these questions have sought legal advice, according to anonymous hotlines for U.S. military members.
Before the Trump-era boat strikes, the United States viewed the drug trade as a law enforcement issue and tasked the Coast Guard with interdicting boats trying to bring drugs into the country.
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Two organizations that provide anonymous legal advice for military members grappling with orders they fear are illegal said they had received calls from service members concerned about the legality of the boat strikes, some from people directly involved in them.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/06/us-trump-boat-strikes-death-toll/90376052007/
Rachel Maddow also shared this story on Bluesky.
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