By Thomas Coffin

A disturbing trend has afflicted many within our constitutional government under our current president — that its foundation is purportedly the rule of law, but its actions are increasingly failing to meet the test of being lawful.

For example, the president has been ordering the Navy to destroy boats from other nations in international waters, murdering nearly all their crew members, based on the assumption that they are transporting illegal drugs to our shores, without demonstrating any evidence whatsoever that such is indeed their cargo.

According to news sources, retired Adm. James Stavridis and other military experts say the force sent to the Caribbean was far greater than needed to dispatch the speedboats and other watercraft allegedly carrying drugs to North American shores. Rather, such force points instead to applying pressure on the leader of Venezuela.

Where is the evidence regarding the drugs? More disturbing, why did our military kill almost everyone on the boats carrying drugs — assuming that was the cargo — instead of arresting them? 

This is the most troubling aspect of the matter. The armada on the scene clearly had the firepower and personnel to easily seize the boats and occupants therein rather than slaying them (the most recent count exceeds 80 fatalities.) Was that degree of force needed? 

The press reports that one person survived and was returned to his country. Why? Was he a minor? Were there others? Does anyone know? 

We should know; “We the people” deserve the truth. That is why we have a Constitution, attorneys, courts, presumption of innocence, and trials by jurors. That is the premise of the rule of law. But will it survive this era with this president?

The bloodbath on the seas sends a troubling message. The Navy could have arrested the crews and the U.S. tried them if they indeed were smuggling drugs, but instead the death penalty was imposed — in international waters — without any evidence or due process. Indeed, such actions may well be violations of international law in that they occur on vessels in international waters. And I fear that among other impacts, such will establish a precedent for the future.

What is most puzzling is that one crewman who survived an explosive attack was picked by the U.S. military, but instead of being arrested, he was returned to his home country. Why? He would have been “evidence” regarding the alleged drugs on the boat and its destination. To put it mildly, it is difficult from a legal perspective to understand why this sailor was not held for interrogation and then prosecuted if he was part of a sophisticated sea-based plan to drop narcotics onto our shores.

Two other crewmen who survived another attack died after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a second missile strike to kill them as they floated in the water near the wreckage of their boat, The Washington Post reported Nov. 28. “The order was to kill everybody,” a source told the newspaper.

Do these actions — killing those allegedly delivering drugs to our shores rather than arresting them, evaluating the evidence, and charging them if appropriate — signal the increasing use of an extrajudicial tactic by our president? At present, he is using deadly force on drug suspects in boats instead of prosecuting them. This is the opposite of virtually all other examples of non-boat criminal cases.

In other words, at sea, the U.S. military now behaves as if the suspect is presumed guilty and executed immediately. In the United States, on land, the suspect is presumed innocent and gets a jury trial.

As we all know, the president has been ordering the National Guard to occupy select cities, ostensibly in order to reduce crime. In addition, federal police from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service have been seen in many more cities assisting in the arrest and detention of undocumented immigrants — and legal immigrants and even U.S. citizens as well. 

Will the president order them to give landlubbers the same treatment as the suspects on ships? What’s the difference? 

Thomas Coffin is a retired federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon and a former professor at the University of Oregon law school. Prior to his 24 years on the bench, he had a 21-year career as a federal prosecutor. Find more of his essays via Cottage Grove’s The Blackberry Pie Society.