As President Donald Trump ramps up his lethal campaign against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America, Hawaii lawmakers warn that he risks dragging the U.S. into a new war and alienating allies. This comes as the Pentagon pulls in more military forces from around the world to join the expanding operation.
In September, the U.S. military began a series of strikes on boats off the coast of South America that Trump administration officials say are being used by drug trafficking organizations. The campaign has killed dozens of people so far. However, the Trump administration has not publicly released any evidence that any of the casualties were traffickers or cartel members. When questioned on the legality of the operations, administration officials have said that the documents outlining the legal framework are secret.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that strikes on land may soon be next. He said that officials would likely brief Congress before those strikes begin but also insisted he doesn’t need congressional approval.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “When you’re publicly talking about strikes on land, that’s threatening war right there. War powers clearly belong to Congress, but we have a president here who could care less about the balance of power.”
Much of the U.S. military buildup and many of the strikes have been off the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration has said it seeks “regime change” in the country and, in August, offered a reward of $50 million for the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.”
“Trump is absolutely required to get approval from Congress before recklessly authorizing military strikes in Venezuela, or other Latin American countries, which could drag our nation into another overseas conflict and put American lives at risk,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Continuing to launch these attacks without congressional approval is yet another example of the ways this regime disregards precedent and the law.”
On Friday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced in a social media post that the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which was conducting operations in the Mediterranean, will sail to the Caribbean in a sharp escalation.
Tokuda accused the administration of exploiting the current government shutdown to ramp up the operation without oversight. “I think it’s extremely intentional by this president to be ramming this through, these actions, amidst a government shutdown,” said Tokuda. “He’s literally leveraging and using this shutdown as a cover because Congress isn’t even in session right now. The United States Senate’s whole focus has been on reopening government.”
Outlets reported that one strike took place near Colombia, which has accused the U.S. of killing its citizens within its territorial waters. Among the victims is 40-year-old Alejandro Carranza, who went missing more than a month ago after he went out to sea in the Caribbean. Carranza’s wife, Katerine Hernandez, has told media that he was a fisherman with no ties to drug traffickers. Colombians now believe he was killed in one of the strikes, which Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called “murder.”
In response, Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and said he would cut off all counter-narcotics aid to Colombia and impose new tariffs on the country. Trump also said he “better close up” drug cultivation sites “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.” On Friday, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Petro and his family.
The U.S. has a long history of working closely with the Colombian military, and Colombian service members have trained in Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). Many Latin American countries, including Colombia, have lately sought closer cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to counter illegal fishing near their coasts, largely by China’s large state-subsidized fishing fleet.
Petro visited Hawaii in October 2023 and met with senior military officials with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command during RIMPAC 2024.
Tokuda said that Trump’s approach to Colombia raises “serious concern in the Indo-Pacific, where we are constantly needing to strengthen, defend (and) amplify our support for Taiwan amidst China’s aggression. Acts like this really chip away at the United States’ reputation that we support our allies, protect our allies, when now we have allies literally accusing us of killing their people in these attacks, and we cannot even provide concrete evidence that there have been threats to the United States.”
### Escalation and Secrecy
The campaign against the alleged traffickers, which the administration now calls an “armed conflict,” has grown exponentially. The Navy has pulled at least three ships from the 3rd Fleet’s area of operations—which includes Hawaii—to join operations in the Caribbean, dispatching at least one from Washington state and two from San Diego.
When asked if any ships or other units in Hawaii have been called up or are already participating, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson told the Star-Advertiser they were “unable” to answer “during the government shutdown,” but that the “Navy continues to defend the nation, conducting ongoing operations worldwide.” Another Pacific Fleet official referred inquiries to U.S. Southern Command, whose spokesman declined to comment on personnel or asset movements.
Lawmakers say they remain in the dark. “Democratic and Republican leadership in the House has sent a letter to the Pentagon asking the administration for evidence on these strikes, and they’ve gotten no answers,” said Tokuda. “So literally, what you see on Truth Social, you know, grainy pictures they decide to release of boats being blown up and things floating in the water, that’s all that the members of the House Armed Services Committee has also received.”
Tokuda added that it has been months since the committee has received a briefing on U.S. Southern Command’s operations, classified or otherwise. Hirono and several other Democratic senators sent a letter to Trump shortly after the strikes began in September, requesting information. Hirono told the Star-Advertiser that so far, “SASC members have received one classified briefing relating to the recent operations in SOUTHCOM.”
“We have thousands of Marines and sailors in the area, no less than three Aegis guided missile destroyers, and a nuclear submarine,” said Tokuda. “You’ve got all these military assets there for what is, quite frankly, a law enforcement operation, but starting to look like Trump’s war in that region when I’m concerned, quite frankly, about the Indo-Pacific.”
Under Trump’s first presidency and that of Joe Biden, the Pentagon named the Pacific as its top priority theater as the U.S. competes with China for power and influence. U.S. officials have for years accused Beijing of defying international law in the Pacific, particularly in disputes over territorial and navigation rights in the South China Sea—a critical waterway where one-third of all international trade passes through.
In 2016, an international court rejected most of China’s territorial claims, which encompass nearly the entire South China Sea, but Beijing called the ruling “illegal.” The Chinese military has built bases on disputed islands and reefs and routinely harasses and attacks fishermen from the Philippines and Vietnam.
Tokuda noted that while Chinese forces have sometimes seriously injured people in attacks on vessels, “they’re not bombing ships in the South China Sea, right? They’re not killing people in the South China Sea.”
In September, as the strikes were just beginning, Indo-Pacific Command hosted an international law conference in Waikiki, drawing military lawyers from across the region. Adm. Samuel Paparo told attendees that the gathering “reflects our belief that the law is not a constraint. No, it’s a shared value that is a force multiplier for military commanders such as myself. It reflects our conviction that human dignity and its expression at the state level, sovereign rights, transparency and principled cooperation are not optional values, they are fundamental pillars of security and fundamentally underpin the social contract and the community of nations.”
But Tokuda said the Trump administration’s campaign in Latin America threatens to undermine that message, and she worries the consequences could ripple across the Pacific.
“This absolutely destroys our credibility when we call out China and we talk about rules-based international order, respect for sovereignty, and here we go doing absolutely the opposite,” said Tokuda. “I’m fearful that it will embolden countries like China to try to see just how far there they can go, under the guise of ‘well, the United States is doing this, why can’t we?’”
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/10/26/hawaii-news/tokuda-hirono-warn-trump-risking-war-in-south-america/
