President Trump’s decision to authorize targeted strikes on drug-running vessels leaving the Venezuelan coast has drawn predictable criticism from academics and international bureaucrats. The truth is simple. These actions are lawful, justified, and long overdue. And the Maduro regime created the very threat the United States is now forced to confront. As a state Attorney General and a former combat veteran, I believe the legal case is solid and the national security need is undeniable.
For years, Venezuela has acted less like a sovereign nation and more like a staging ground and willing host for transnational cartels, terrorist affiliates, and organized criminal networks. Under Nicolás Maduro’s corrupt and collapsing regime, this rogue country has become a launchpad for cocaine traffickers, a sanctuary for violent groups, and a partner of convenience for every anti-American actor in the hemisphere. These drug boats do not leave Venezuelan shores by accident. They leave because the regime profits from them. They leave because Caracas has abandoned any pretense of controlling its own territory. And they leave because Maduro could not care less how many Americans overdose and die as a result.
That’s why President Trump is right to act. These are not harmless fishing skiffs. They are stateless, unflagged ghost vessels and semi-submersible craft designed to evade detection while carrying tons of deadly narcotics and fentanyl precursors. They have become the maritime arm of cartel empires that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. Our Congress recognized long ago that the United States has the authority to act against these threats before they make landfall.
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act allows the United States to interdict stateless vessels or foreign flagged vessels with flag state consent. The Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act makes it a federal crime simply to operate certain unregistered craft on the high seas with intent to evade detection. These laws form a clear legal foundation for decisive action, and President Trump is operating well within that authority.
The President’s critics try to frame this as reckless escalation. It is not. It is the natural extension of Congressional judgment and the President’s constitutional authority to defend this nation. International law supports it too. Stateless vessels enjoy no protections under the law of the sea, and every nation retains the inherent right of self-defense. When drug networks operating openly off the coast of Venezuela push toxic chemicals and narcotics toward our border, the United States has every right, and our President has a sworn duty to stop them.
Maduro stole his last election and can’t be trusted to clean up this mess. A functioning, responsible government would never allow its coastal waters to become a superhighway for narcoterrorist groups. But Venezuela under Maduro is nothing more than a failed state propped up by criminal profit. Its institutions are hollow. Its military is corrupt. And while its people suffer, its leaders enrich themselves by enabling the very cartels tearing American communities apart.
As Attorney General of South Carolina, I see firsthand the devastation these drugs inflict on my state’s families. Our sheriffs, police chiefs, and prosecutors do everything they can, but they are fighting a tough battle to protect our families. The challenge for all of us begins long before the poison reaches our borders, and President Trump is right to take that fight to the source.
Strong leadership means confronting threats where they originate and President Trump understands that. Venezuela has enabled the cartels. And America is now safer because the President of the United States is taking action. God bless President Donald Trump.
Alan Wilson was elected South Carolina’s 51st Attorney General in 2010. His X handle is @AGAlanWilson
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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