(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump says U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific are helping protect Americans from illegal drug smuggling.
Anne Fundner, whose 15-year-old son died of an overdose after he unknowingly ingested a fentanyl-laced pill, agrees, telling “NewsNation Live” the strikes are “a little piece of justice.”
“None of these boats are going to ever measure up to the amount of deaths that we’ve seen on American soil,” she said. “They are murderers and criminals, and they wouldn’t think twice about killing anybody. So, for me, this is justice, and I’d love to see it keep happening until this crisis is under control.”
Since her son’s death, Fundner has made it her mission to educate others about the dangers of fentanyl, speaking to lawmakers at the Republican National Convention last summer and advocating for the passage of the HALT (Halt All Lethal Trafficking of) Fentanyl Act.
In the U.S., fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is the leading cause of death for Americans between 15-48 years old.
In 2024, the DEA reported, “More than 107,000 people lost their lives to a drug overdose in 2023, with nearly 70% of those deaths attributed to opioids such as fentanyl.”
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say the U.S. military has killed at least 61 people in 14 strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.
However, as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president’s power. The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmakers have raised questions about the lack of hard evidence to justify the killings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.