#congressional-authorization

#congressional-authorization

Congress has made narcotics importation a serious felony crime fit for prosecution in the civilian courts. It has not authorized the executive branch to treat it as an armed attack to be countered by American military power. Obviously, narcotics trafficking is a significant crime problem, but American users obtain illegal narcotics voluntarily and, usually, nonviolently. The importation and distribution of illegal drugs is simply not analogous to a missile strike or other violent mass-murder attack, he wrote.

A Boeing C-17 Globemaster departs from José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, on September 12, 2025, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The Trump administration recently carried out a drone strike in the southern Caribbean against a boat that had left Venezuela. Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo / Getty Images With 14 people killed in the Caribbean in recent days by US forces at the direction of President Donald Trump, two Democratic senators on Friday moved to stop the Trump administration from continuing military strikes against boats that it claims are involved in drug trafficking.