Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has accused the Trump administration's anti-drug boat strikes of resulting in "murder victims," asserting that evidence indicates people not involved in narcotrafficking have been killed. In a letter dated Aug. 3, 2026, to President Donald Trump, Kaine called for an examination of the evidence and an end to the operations.
The U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific on June 3, 2026, along a known narco-trafficking corridor, according to a statement from the command via X. The administration has conducted dozens of similar strikes against vessels identified as carrying alleged "narco-terrorists."
Kaine's letter detailed a series of directives and legal opinions underpinning these operations. In July 2025, the President directed the Department of Defense to conduct kinetic operations against narcotrafficking in the Americas. A Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion in September 2025 provided legal support for these operations under specific, classified factual conditions. This was followed by a Department of Defense order, or EXORD, in October 2025, which contained classified targeting criteria.
"My review of your directive, the OLC legal opinion, the EXORD, and the notifications of the boat strikes, makes clear that the United States is engaged in violent and fatal attacks against people far beyond those whom the OLC opinion claimed could be lawfully targeted," Kaine wrote. "In other words, a careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking."
Kaine urged the President to investigate the extent to which the Department of Defense leadership may have exceeded the July 2025 directive and to halt the operation, which he described as "illegal, costly and ineffective."
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated in response that President Trump has taken "unprecedented action to stop the scourge of narcoterrorism" and that all strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing drugs into the country. She added that the President will continue to use "every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice."