Trinidadian Families Sue U.S. Over Missile Strike Deaths

Family members of two Trinidadian men killed in a U.S. missile strike on a boat near Venezuela have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government, marking the first legal challenge to the Trump administration's campaign of maritime attacks on suspected drug vessels.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Boston, was brought by Lenore Burnley, the mother of Chad Joseph, 26, and Sallycar Korasingh, the sister of Rishi Samaroo, 41. It alleges that the men were murdered in an unlawful strike on October 14, as they returned home from work in Venezuela. According to the complaint, Joseph and Samaroo had been engaged in fishing and farm labor off the Venezuelan coast and were heading to their homes in Las Cuevas, Trinidad, when their vessel was hit, killing them and four others on board.

The strike was the fifth in a series of 36 U.S. military operations authorized since early September against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The attacks have resulted in more than 120 deaths, according to defense officials. The administration, under the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has described the operations as part of a conflict with drug...