On October 14, 2025, two Trinidadian men, Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were killed by a missile strike launched by the United States government. Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo had been fishing and working on the same farm in Venezuela and were traveling home to their families in Trinidad and Tobago when the missile struck their boat, killing them and the four other people on board.

On January 27, 2026, Ms. Lenore Burnley, Mr. Joseph’s mother, and Ms. Sallycar Korasingh, Mr. Samaroo’s sister, brought a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government on behalf of the families of Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo for their wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. Mr. Joseph leaves behind his parents and five siblings, and his wife and their three minor children. Mr. Samaroo leaves behind his parents and eight siblings, and three children. 

Ms. Burnley and Ms. Korasingh brought their civil claims under two federal statutes: the Death on the High Seas Act, an admiralty law that allows family members to sue for wrongful death occurring on the high seas, and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreign citizens to sue in U.S. federal courts for violations of well-recognized human rights norms. 

Between the start of the Trump administration’s unlawful campaign of launching lethal strikes against civilian boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean on September 2, 2025, and the filing of this lawsuit, the administration launched 36 such strikes, killing at least 125 people. President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have publicly boasted about and published videos of the strikes — including the strike that killed Mr. Joseph and Mr. Samaroo. This case seeks accountability for their killings, a finding that they were unlawful, and compensation for their families.