A legal opinion has been produced to justify the strikes ordered by the Trump administration that have killed cartel members and drug traffickers, CNN reported.
The opinion from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against drug cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans, sources told CNN.
The list of cartels targeted by the Trump administration goes beyond those publicly designated as terrorist organizations, according to CNN.
Legal experts told CNN the DOJ opinion gives the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them killed without legal review. Drug traffickers are typically considered criminals with the right to due process.
Recent strikes against boats trafficking drugs in the Caribbean leaned heavily on the legal opinion, sources told CNN. Lawmakers have asked the Department of Justice for the legal opinion, but it has not been provided.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to testify to Congress on Tuesday.
The United States killed four people in a strike on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump have not provided evidence for claims that the targeted boats were carrying drugs.
Trump told Congress last week that he had determined the U.S. to be in "a noninternational armed conflict" with drug cartels, without providing any new legal rationale.
Critics say the boat strikes are a further effort by Trump to test the scope of his presidential powers. Legal experts have questioned why the military is carrying out these attacks rather than the Coast Guard, the country's maritime law agency.
Lawyers at the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel have raised concerns about the legality of the strike, CNN reported.
"If you're in our hemisphere, if you're in the Caribbean, if you're north of Venezuela and you want to traffic drugs to the United States, you are a legitimate target of the United States military," Hegseth said in an interview.
On Sunday, Trump said the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean had halted drug trafficking from South America.
"There's no drugs coming into the water. And we'll look at what phase 2 is," he told reporters at the White House.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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