The families of two men who were killed in a strike on their vessel in October 2025 have filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
carried out a missile strike on their boat, killing them and the other four people on board, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Joseph’s mother and Samaroo’s sister.
The lawsuit argues that the strikes that killed them violated international human rights norms against extrajudicial killing and amounted to murder. The Trump administration alleged that the people on the boat were narcotics traffickers. “Chad was a loving and caring son who was always there for me, for his wife and children, and for our whole family. I miss him terribly. We all do,” said Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley. “We know this lawsuit won’t bring Chad back to us, but we’re trusting God to carry us through this, and we hope that speaking out will help get us some truth and closure.” The families’ lawsuit is based upon the Death on High Seas Act, which allows relatives to seek compensation for unlawful or negligent deaths that occurred beyond three nautical miles from the U.S. to sue those responsible, and the 1789 Alien Tort Statute, which allows for non-U.S. citizens to sue in U.S. courts for alleged human rights violations. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, but did not specify an exact amount. Prior to being killed, Joseph was a resident of Las Cuevas, Trinidad, which is only about 20 nautical miles from Venezuela, where he lived with his wife and three children. He would often travel to Venezuela for work, sometimes for weeks or months at a time, and when he was away, he would frequently call his family, according to the filing. He intended to return home from his latest trip over the summer but was delayed when his transport home had engine trouble, and he subsequently struggled to find an alternative way back to Trinidad. He called his wife after the first U.S. strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, which occurred on Sept. 2, to confirm to her that he wasn’t on board. As the number of strikes mounted, Joseph “became increasingly fearful of making the return trip. But he was determined to return to his wife and their children as soon as possible,” according to the lawsuit. The last time Joseph and his wife spoke was on Oct. 12, when he informed her that he had found a new way home. Samaroo was also from Las Cuevas, while his family lives in Bin Bin Trace, El Socorro, Trinidad. He was imprisoned for 15 years for his participation in a homicide and was released early on parole in 2024. Samaroo called his sister in August 2025 to let her know that he was living in Venezuela and working on a farm. During one of their calls, Samaroo introduced Joseph to his sister. After learning that his mother was sick, Samaroo called his sister on Oct. 12 to inform her that he was on his way home to help care for her. It was the last time he spoke with his family. “Rishi used to call our family almost every day, and then one day he disappeared, and we never heard from him again,” said Sallycar Korasingh, Samaroo’s sister. “Rishi was a hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again and to make a decent living in Venezuela to help provide for his family. If the U.S. government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him. They must be held accountable.” A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment, citing the department’s long-standing policy not to comment on ongoing litigation. The Oct. 14 strike that killed Joseph and Samaroo was the fifth such strike during the campaign. Secretary of Warposted a video of this strike on social media, as he has for nearly all of them. It shows a boat in the water not moving until a missile hits it, and then it explodes into flames. Then the video ends. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks and was transiting along a known route,” President Donald Trump said on social media that day. “The strike was conducted in International Water, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike.”The Pentagon and the administration have argued that the strikes are legal and do not meet the threshold needed for congressional approval, but they have not shared the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion that argues the president has the authority to green-light deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans. This case presents the first opportunity for people who believe the strikes violate international law to argue that in court.
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