President Donald Trump says US navy strikes on eight vessels within the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, principally concentrating on boats from Venezuela, had been authorized as a result of they carried medication being delivered to the USA.
However Republican Senator Rand Paul, Kentucky, who can be chair of the Senate Homeland Safety Committee, stated maritime legislation enforcement statistics present that not all boats suspected of carrying medication even have medication onboard. He stated the military’s strikes weren’t in keeping with common US coverage.
“If you cease individuals at sea in worldwide waters, or in your individual waters, you announce that you simply’re going to board the ship and also you’re in search of contraband, smuggling or medication. This occurs day-after-day off of Miami,” Paul stated on October 19 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme. “We all know from Coast Guard statistics that about 25 p.c of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are not any medication. So if our coverage now could be to explode each ship we suspect or accuse of drug working, that may be a weird world wherein 25 p.c of the individuals could be harmless.”
Paul made an identical assertion in an October 12 interview.
Greater than 30 individuals have been killed to date within the strikes, and the Trump administration has supplied no evidence that the vessels contained medication. We rated Trump’s current assertion that every strike saved “25,000 American lives” false.
Paul’s workplace pointed PolitiFact to the US Coast Guard’s 2024 fiscal 12 months report, which stated that 12 months the company intercepted medication in about 73 p.c of instances after they boarded boats, with about 27 p.c of vessel interceptions yielding no medication.
Specialists stated the info helps Paul’s level, however famous that it’s unclear how the Coast Guard defines the time period it makes use of to explain intercepting medication – “a drug disruption”.
“If the (Coast Guard) boards a vessel and finds a recognized drug trafficker however no medication, and that particular person will get arrested and convicted, does that rely as a ‘drug disruption’?” stated Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon College drug coverage researcher. “Or suppose they strategy the vessel, it jettisons the medication overboard, and so the Coast Guard seizes the vessel however the medication have disappeared into the water. Is {that a} profitable disruption?”
Paul’s determine won’t translate on to the current boat strikes, specialists stated, for the reason that US might have had intelligence about these particular vessels.
PolitiFact contacted the Coast Guard about its information assortment course of however didn’t hear again.
Coast Guard report particulars the company’s drug interceptions
The Coast Guard experiences information about how usually it intercepts medication to the Division of Homeland Safety. Its 2024 fiscal 12 months report, which covers October 2023 to September 2024, summarises the company’s efficiency in varied programmes.
Throughout that time period, the Coast Guard disrupted drug runs in 91 out of 125 boat interdictions, the report says, which was a price of about 73 p.c.
“The standard of searches carried out by Coast Guard boarding groups is excessive,” the report stated, including that its metrics rely on the standard and timeliness of the intelligence the company receives.
The speed has various lately. The company began reporting this drug interception information in fiscal 12 months 2021, in keeping with the report, which reveals a drug disruption price that 12 months of 59 p.c – which means 41 p.c of boats searched yielded no medication.
The interception price rose to 64 p.c in 2022 and 69 p.c in 2023. The 2024 drug interception price of 73 p.c represents the Coast Guard’s highest because it began monitoring the info. It lists an 80 p.c interception price as its annual purpose.
The Coast Guard didn’t reply our questions on its information assortment course of or what quantities to a drug disruption. A 2025 Coast Guard report evaluating company information from fiscal years 2021 by way of 2023 discovered it didn’t precisely replicate all drug interdictions as some experiences didn’t comprise drug seizure outcomes or the required documentation.
Specialists stated we don’t know whether or not the 2024 Coast Guard statistic straight interprets to the current strikes within the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
“The individuals with fingers on the set off might demand a a lot increased certainty price earlier than capturing,” Caulkins stated. “So, even when the senator’s determine had been right when trying throughout all the numerous, very numerous operations over the course of a 12 months, that doesn’t imply it applies to the particular case of boats of Venezuela. Maybe it does, however maybe not.”
The Trump administration’s lack of awareness in regards to the kind or amount of medicine it says had been on the boats makes it unimaginable to know if each or any of the boats carried deadly medication, and in the event that they had been en path to the US.
Drug specialists beforehand informed us that Venezuela performs a minor function in trafficking medication that attain the US. Most illicit fentanyl within the US comes from Mexico, not Venezuela. It enters the nation primarily by way of the southern border at official ports of entry, and is smuggled in principally by US residents.
Our ruling
Paul stated, “About 25 p.c of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are not any medication.”
A 2024 Coast Guard report stated the company boarded and intercepted boats with medication on them about 73 p.c of the time, which suggests 27 p.c of the interceptions yielded no medication.
This drug disruption statistic, nevertheless, won’t translate on to the current boat strikes, specialists stated, since we don’t know what sort of intelligence the US had about these vessels.
Paul’s assertion is correct however wants clarification. We price it Principally True.
