As the death toll from fentanyl in the U.S. continues to rise, critics are increasingly vocal about President Trump’s military actions against drug smugglers at sea, prompting a debate regarding the value of lives in this crisis.
Opponents of President Trump’s military operations point to the deaths of around 64 drug traffickers resulting from 15 air strikes, expressing anger over this loss of life. This criticism has not adequately addressed the plight of innocent victims caught in the crosshairs of narco-terrorism.
The criticism reaches high levels now, with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaking out during a U.N. briefing, calling the military strikes and the resulting human toll “unacceptable.”
Turk contends that these military actions, which reportedly killed dozens of smugglers, violate international human rights law. Yet, he doesn’t mention that drug overdoses from international cartels take the lives of over 500,000 individuals annually across the globe, with opioids like fentanyl responsible for 80% of these deaths according to the World Health Organization.
In mid-October, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expressed concern over the military efforts against narco-terrorists. They even filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents related to these operations.
In the ACLU’s recent announcement, they didn’t elaborate on the FOIA request. Alarmingly, around 80,000 people in the U.S. are projected to die from drug overdoses in 2024 alone. Jeffrey Stein, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, criticized the military’s actions, stating:
“All available evidence suggests that President Trump’s deadly attack in the Caribbean amounted to murder, pure and simple. … The public has a right to know how our government legitimizes these attacks, and given the risks, immediate public scrutiny of clearly extremist theories is essential.”
In mid-October, Breitbart Texas covered a rally in Texas organized by Angel Moms, where many gathered to honor those lost to fentanyl and opioid addiction. Texas Governor Greg Abbott attended and acknowledged the mothers’ efforts in passing new laws, including one designating fentanyl overdose deaths as homicides.
While critiques of President Trump’s military approach lament the deaths of smugglers at sea, they often overlook the distress faced by grieving mothers.
A report reveals that drug overdoses were responsible for over 100,000 deaths in the U.S. for three consecutive years through 2023, slightly decreasing to around 80,000 in 2024. The United States continues to lead globally in overdose fatalities.
As of February 2025, drug overdoses remain the primary cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44, according to the CDC. Since the commencement of the drug war initiated by President Nixon in 1971—with 7,000 overdose deaths recorded—efforts to combat drug smuggling through seizures and prosecutions have largely failed to diminish the toll from addiction and overdose.
If the advice from critics of President Trump’s military strategies is followed and these violent operations are halted, we may need to accept the current grim reality of roughly 100,000 annual deaths in the U.S. as the new norm.
Randy Clark is a retired 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, having served as Division Chief of Law Enforcement Operations in the Del Rio, Texas area.
