President Donald Trump said the two survivors from a U.S. strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea suspected of carrying drugs are being sent back to their home countries.
“The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump posted on his social media platform on Saturday afternoon.
Trump said the vessel that was stuck was a submarine and said U.S. intelligence indicated it was carrying fentanyl and other illegal narcotics.
In a legal defense provided to Congress, Trump told lawmakers that the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with the cartels and that drug smugglers are “unarmed combatants.”
The existence of survivors of the latest military strike could have forced the matter to go before a judge had either of the two survivors protested their status as “unlawful combatants.”
The two survivors from a U.S. A. They are being returned to their home countries after an attack on a ship in the Caribbean Sea that was thought to be transporting drugs.
“The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution,” Trump wrote on Saturday afternoon in a Friday social media post.
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the stuck ship was a submarine. A. According to intelligence, it was transporting illegal drugs, including fentanyl.
Since the Trump administration increased its operations in the Caribbean over the summer, which it claims is required to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, it was the sixth strike on a vessel in the region. A.
By repatriating the accused drug traffickers, the administration avoids what might have been a contentious legal battle that would have called into question Trump’s “war” against the cartels. Unarmed combatants detained in military custody are legally permitted to challenge their detention in court.
Instead of depending on law enforcement to impose drug interdictions, Trump has maintained that he has the legal right to use lethal military force against drug cartels because he claims that these organizations are an immediate threat to the United States, much like terrorist groups.
During a congressional defense, Trump informed lawmakers that the U.S. A. Drug smugglers are “unarmed combatants” engaged in an “armed conflict” with the cartels. “.
Courts are unlikely to accept such an argument, according to some legal experts. However, with few lawmakers opposing Trump’s defense of the drug cartels and Trump continuing to increase military operations in the area in recent weeks, it was unclear who would question his justification.
If either of the two survivors of the most recent military strike had objected to their status as “illegal combatants,” their presence might have compelled the case to go to trial. “..”.
The issue is effectively kept out of the legal system by sending the survivors to other nations.
