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Katrina King, left, and Lynette Burnley, relatives of Chad Joseph, walk to the St Michael's RC church with a memorial photo for a service held for him in Las Cuevas on October 22. FAMILIES of two Trinidadian men killed in a US missile strike last October have filed a lawsuit against the US government, alleging wrongful death and extrajudicial killing.
The claim was filed in the US district court for Massachusetts in Admiralty on January 27 by Lenore Burnley, the mother of Chad Joseph, 26, and Sallycar Korasingh, the sister of Rishi Samaroo, 41. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of the surviving family members of both men.
Joseph and Samaroo were among six people killed on October 14, 2025, when a missile struck a small civilian boat as it travelled from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago. The men were returning home to Las Cuevas when the strike occurred.
According to the lawsuit, the attack was part of a broader campaign of US military action targeting civilian boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The claim alleges that at least 36 such strikes have been launched since September 2025, resulting in a minimum of 125 deaths.
“Chad was a loving and caring son who was always there for me, for his wife and children, and for our whole family,” Burnley said in a statement. “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 are pursuing their claims under the US Death on the High Seas Act, which allows relatives to sue for deaths occurring in international waters, and the Alien Tort Statute, which permits foreign nationals to seek redress in US courts for serious violations of international human rights law.
Korasingh described her brother as a hardworking man trying to rebuild his life. “Rishi used to call our family almost every day, and then one day he disappeared, and we never heard from him again,” she said. “If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him. They must be held accountable.”
The complaint was filed by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Centre for Constitutional Rights, Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School, and the ACLU of Massachusetts. The legal team argues that the strikes are “manifestly unlawful,” asserting that the United States is not engaged in an armed conflict that would justify the use of lethal force and that the attacks violate both international law and US constitutional principles.
Brett Max Kaufman, senior counsel at the ACLU, said the lawsuit seeks to challenge what he described as unchecked abuses of power. “In seeking justice for the senseless killing of their loved ones, our clients are bravely demanding accountability for their devastating losses and standing up against the administration’s assault on the rule of law,” he said.
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have publicly acknowledged the strikes and released videos of them, including footage of the strike that killed Joseph and Samaroo. However, the victims have not been publicly identified by US authorities.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sean Sobers told local media following the incident that the government had no information linking either man to illegal activity.
Baher Azmy, legal director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said the case raises fundamental questions about the limits of state power. “It is absurd and dangerous for any state to unilaterally proclaim that a ‘war’ exists in order to deploy lethal military force,” he said, describing the killings as unlawful and calling for judicial oversight and accountability.
The complaint noted, “The US has not conducted these strikes pursuant to any congressional authorisation. Instead, the government has acted unilaterally.
“These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification. Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.”
The ACLU said before his death, Joseph lived in Las Cuevas with his wife and three children. He frequently travelled to Venezuela for fishing and agricultural work to support his family. On October 12, he told his wife he had secured a ride home and would return within days. Two days later, his family learned of a boat strike through social media reports and were unable to contact him thereafter.
Samaroo was originally from El Socorro, where his elderly father, eight siblings, and two of his three sons still live. His mother resides in nearby San Juan. After being released from prison in 2024 following a 15-year sentence for his involvement in a homicide, he worked in fishing and construction. In August 2025, he moved temporarily to Venezuela for farm work and regularly called his family. In his last conversation on October 12, he told his sister he was returning home to care for their ill mother.
Prof Jonathan Hafetz said the case highlights broader implications for international law. “People may not simply be gunned down by the government,” he said, warning that the US government’s actions risk undermining its standing in the international community.
The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts, where federal courts have long-standing jurisdiction over admiralty matters. Jessie Rossman, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the case is about accountability and justice. “Rishi and Chad wanted only to get home safely to their loved ones,” she said. “The unconscionable attack on their boat prevented them from doing so.”
“Confronted with widespread denunciations, the government has made threadbare claims that the lethal boat strikes are lawful under the laws of war. It has pointed to a still-secret Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) memorandum that reportedly determined that the United States is engaged in a non-international armed conflict against scores of unspecified drug cartels in Latin America.
“Whatever that secret memorandum states, it cannot render the patently illegal killings lawful,” the 23-page complaint said.
“First, under the plain terms of the laws of war, also known as international humanitarian law, there is no actual armed conflict that could justify the use of lethal military force against the boats, nor was there one on October 14, when Mr Joseph and Mr Samaroo were killed. As a result, the US’ campaign of killings violates international laws prohibiting extrajudicial killings and federal law prohibiting murder.
“Second, even if there were a real armed conflict that could trigger the application of IHL, these airstrikes would still be illegal under that established body of law. Indeed, given that top US officials ordered the direct, intentional, and unjustified killings of civilians, their actions amount to grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and, as such, war crimes punishable under federal and international law. 9. The US’ unlawful killings of persons at sea, including Joseph and Samaroo, constitute wrongful deaths and extrajudicial killings as recognised by two federal statutes that entitle their survivors to compensation and redress.
“The prohibition on extrajudicial killing – the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of the right to life—is a norm codified in every major human rights treaty and has reached the status of a non-derogable norm that binds all states in peacetime and war.”
On January 14, Attorney General John Jeremie said the US strikes were consistent with international law, based on advice he received from an international legal expert outside his office.
Jeremie said he sought external legal advice from an international expert outside the Office of the Attorney General before arriving at his conclusion.
“My first look at it, and the advice I took, is the strikes were consistent with international law,” he said. “That was the advice given to me by an international expert.”
Jeremie declined to identify the expert or to discuss the substance of the advice, saying he could not do so without going into its “meat and bones”.
“Even now, I do not know that any TT citizen was killed in any strike,” he said.
Jeremie declined to elaborate, saying he could not answer without disclosing privileged legal advice.
“I’ve done my job, which is to ensure the republic acts in accordance with the law.”
Jeremie added he had conveyed his advice to the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, but offered no further comment. Jeremie declined to comment when contacted on January 27.
English (US) ·