These Trinidadian fishermen were killed in a U.S. boat strike. Now their families are suing

When the U.S. launched its first deadly strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela last September, Chad Joseph called his wife to assure him he was not onboard. 

But a month later, the Trinidadian father of three was killed in another strike.

Joseph, 26, often worked in nearby Venezuela as a farm hand and fisherman. He and his work buddy, Rishi Samaroo, 41, are believed to have been among the ​six men killed during an Oct. 14, 2025, U.S. airstrike targeting a small vessel in the Caribbean Sea headed to Trinidad and Tobago.

Now, both men’s families are suing the U.S. government for wrongful death. 

“This was a premeditated and intentional killing outside of the context of war, which makes it murder, plain and simple,” Jeffrey Stein, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer representing the families, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

“We want to demonstrate the real human toll of these grotesque killings and try to seek a modicum of justice for family members.”

126 killed so far

The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Lenore Burnley, Joseph’s mother, and Sallycar Korasingh, Samaroo’s sister

It is the first legal challenge against U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over the 36 deadly boat strikes it has carried out in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 126 people. 

The U.S. government has said, without providing evidence, that the men killed on these boats were “narco-terrorists.”

“President Trump used his lawful authority to take decisive action against the scourge of illicit narcotics that has resulted in the needless deaths of innocent Americans,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

But Joseph’s and Samroo’s families say they were just regular workers catching a ride home to the Trinidadian fishing village of Las Cuevas.

“Chad and Rishi were not members of or affiliated with any drug cartel,” Stein said.

“Our complaint also makes clear that, irrespective of any allegations that victims of these lethal strikes were engaging in drug trafficking, all of these strikes are patently illegal.”

Who were Joseph and Samaroo?

According to the lawsuit, Joseph often spent weeks, or sometimes months, fishing or doing farm work in Venezuela and sending money home to his family, which is a common way for men in Las Cuevas to earn a living.

Stein says Joseph’s mother described him as “a kind-hearted son” who was “always there for his family and friends.”

While he was away for work, the lawsuit says, he called his common-law wife daily. In his final weeks, they talked about the U.S. strikes. 

“As reports of the U.S. military’s strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea dominated the news in the region, Mr. Joseph became increasingly fearful of making the return trip,” the lawsuit reads. “But he was determined to return to his wife and their children as soon as possible.”

On Oct. 12, Joseph called his wife to tell her that he’d found a boat that was heading to Las Cuevas, and that he would be home in a couple days.

That was the last she ever heard from him. 

Samaroo, who sometimes worked alongside Joseph, had been living and working on a farm in Venezuela since 2024, after he was released on parole for “participation in a homicide,”  the lawsuit says. 

His job was to care for the animals and make cheese. He often texted his family selfies with dogs, goats and cows on the farm.

But when his elderly mother became ill, he decided to return home to help care for her. 

He called Korasingh, his sister, on Oct. 12 to say he was catching a ride home on a boat, then sent her a picture of himself wearing a life jacket.

His family never heard from him again.

“If the U.S. government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him,” Korasingh said in a statement about her brother’s killing.

“They must be held accountable.” 

Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister has express support for the U.S. strikes. But the lawsuit notes the Trinidadian government has said it has no information linking Joseph or Samaroo to illegal activities, and has seen no evidence that any of the strike victims were in possession of illegal drugs or arms.

War on drugs

The Trump administration has framed the attacks, ⁠carried out under U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, as part of a war with drug cartels, alleging they were armed groups.

It has said its attacks comply ​with international rules known as the law of  war or the law of armed conflict. 

Stein says that defence doesn’t hold water.

“It’s frankly absurd under any legal framework,” he said. “There is no armed conflict between the United States and any Latin American drug cartel that could justify the use of lethal force against small boats in the Caribbean or Eastern Pacific.”

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the founding chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told As It Happens in December that drug trafficking is a criminal matter, not an act of war.

“Killing these people is [a crime] against humanity, because they are civilians,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, seeks only damages from the U.S. government for the two deaths, not an injunction that would prevent further strikes.

Nevertheless, Stein says, putting a stop to the strikes is part of the goal.

“We’re hoping to establish that what the Trump administration is doing is patently unlawful,” he said.