Having the Coast Guard arrest drug smugglers may make sense when the number and amount is manageable using law-enforcement techniques. The Biden regime allowed the problem to get beyond law enforcement means and the drug cartels are now a large enough operation to be basically state-sponsored entities. That calls for a military, not a law enforcement response.
RE: You are confusing military ops with law enforcement ops. There is no “due process” requirement for military ops: it’s not a judicial procedure.
There is still the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Although the U.S. is not a formal party to UNCLOS, it has long stated that it considers most of its provisions as customary international law.
UNCLOS prohibits the use of force against foreign-flagged vessels on the high seas unless:
The vessel is stateless.
There is clear evidence of piracy, slave trading, or unauthorized broadcasting.
The vessel poses an imminent threat and self-defense is justified under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
We have also agreed to abide by International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Destruction of vessels and killing of occupants without judicial process may violate human rights norms, especially if the individuals are not combatants.
Extrajudicial killings are prohibited under international human rights law unless justified by immediate threat or armed conflict — neither of which typically applies to suspected drug boats.
Labeling drug cartels as terrorist organizations does not automatically justify military force under international law. Even terrorism conventions emphasize judicial cooperation over unilateral destruction.
You don’t execute a boat’s occupants simply out of suspicion, especially when they are not attacking you. The military can still exercise restraint and use all tools necessary at its disposal— including intercepting the boat, capturing the occupants as POWS and giving them a military trial.
Blowing them up should be a last resort. Think of the horror of making a possible mistake and killing innocent people instead.