Chuy Garcia calls the Caribbean and Pacific boat strikes illegal extrajudicial killings
U.S. representative for Illinois's 4th district and signatory of a joint statement by legislators of the Americas
“Donald Trump is dropping bombs across the Caribbean and Pacific in blatant violation of the law and of fundamental human rights … This has done nothing to stop the flow of drugs or to make Americans safer. Instead, it has left hundreds dead, families devastated, and communities in fear. Let us call these attacks what they are: illegal extrajudicial killings.”
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Rep. García's press release on the joint statement by more than 70 legislators from 13 countries. It lists the 15 U.S. representatives who signed and includes his quotation.
Original text
About this source
Two-page joint statement, in English and Spanish, by lawmakers from 13 countries calling for an end to the U.S. strikes. The statement lists its signatories.
Before the quotation
Garcia was one of 15 U.S. House members named in his office's release among the signatories of a joint statement calling for an immediate end to the attacks.
After the quotation
The joint statement said there is "no evidence that any of the targets posed an imminent threat justifying lethal force" and that "Allegations of drug trafficking, however serious, do not circumvent or override these protections".
How this statement is classified
Case context: Was the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Measured against the strikes and their stated basis, Garcia calls them illegal extrajudicial killings and says they have not stopped the drug flow, which is an express condemnation.
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Was the U.S. military's September 19 Caribbean boat strike justified by evidence of narcotics trafficking?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people. They're enemies at war with civilization, using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. … they should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea.”Read statement
“All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and 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”Read statement
“It finds that such attacks amount to serial extrajudicial killings in violation of the right to life, being unjustified in national or personal self-defence or under international humanitarian law, the international law of the sea, narcotics suppression conventions, or international counter-terrorism law. … even assuming that the vessels and crew attacked were members of the criminal groups listed as terrorist, such organizations have not mounted any “armed attack” on the United States so as to trigger a right of self-defence. … There are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported 68 attacks that killed 223 people constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law.”Read statement