Recent newspaper reports in the New York Times and other publications indicate that since early September of this year, the Trump Administration has authorized military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean which have killed 61 people.  There appear to have been at least 14 strikes on fishing boats which the Administration claims were carrying drugs destined for the United States.  Reports suggest there were at least 3 survivors.

There is no precedent in our law enforcement for this type of summary punishment of people involved in drug importation. In the United States, if individuals hauling drugs by land or sea are intercepted, they are arrested and then given due process of law as to their guilt and the severity of any subsequent sentence.  In these proceedings, the arrested party has the right to present either evidence of innocence to the charges or mitigation as to any sentence.

Drug trafficking on the high seas potentially affecting our country is handled by the United States Coast Guard and/or the United States Navy.  Arrests or the seizure of drugs and other contraband by the military is dealt with as a criminal law problem where the parties are afforded due process.  There is no summary punishment or execution imposed upon the parties merely because it occurs on the high seas.

The Administration appears to be relying upon a legal fiction to justify its attack on suspected drug boats.  It argues that the President has determined that our country is in an armed conflict with drug cartels, and the crews of the boats attacked are combatants in the conflict.  There is no factual or historical basis for the claim that the United States is at war with drug cartels.  Nor has there been a request that Congress review and authorize these military attacks on supposed drug boats in the high seas.

Consider the potential for tragedy and injustice by this type of “shoot first and ask questions later” approach:

1.    As to the drugs on any boat destroyed, how are we sure that they even had drugs or what type of drugs?  (It is only fentanyl and not cocaine that is presently causing widespread death in our country.)  We should remember that even competent law enforcement acting in complete good faith occasionally goes to the wrong location or stops the wrong boat or vehicle because it was given bad information.

2.    How do we know that every person on these boats was knowingly engaged in drug running, rather than a working person merely earning a day’s pay on a fishing boat?  Frequently, there are people caught up in the international transportation of drugs who are unaware of what is going on or where the merchandise is going to.  As to the leadership of the cartels, does anyone really think or believe that any high-level drug dealer is directly involved in the transportation on these boats?  Do we believe that the successor of Pablo Escobar is on one of these boats?

3.    More importantly, even if there were drugs on the boat and some of the workers knew it, we don’t believe in summary punishment or summary execution in this country.  I fully appreciate the evils of narcotics and the devastation that addiction causes to addicts and their families, but we have always believed in due process and even a drug dealer is not shot dead on the street upon arrest.

It is tempting to dismiss this summary execution issue, because it involves strangers whose boats were destroyed on the high seas in far away places.  But does anybody seriously think that if the Administration is allowed to engage in this conduct unchecked without any protest, that it may not continue much closer to home?  We once again must reflect upon the now chilling observation of Pastor Martin Niemöller:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.  Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.  Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”