Trump's newest military operation represents a dangerous and lawless escalation of U.S. aggression Dear Email, American Muslims for Palestine unequivocally condemns the Trump administration’s illegal military operation against Venezuela, including the forcible capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, carried out without congressional authorization and in blatant violation of both U.S. and international law. This operation represents a dangerous and lawless escalation of U.S. aggression. It was conducted in open defiance of the U.S. Constitution, which vests the power to declare war in Congress, and in total disregard for international law and Venezuelan sovereignty. This was not a lawful action grounded in due process or legitimate international claims. The United States never brought recognized accusations against Venezuela’s head of state before international courts, through extradition treaties, or through multilateral legal mechanisms. Instead, President Donald Trump made his motive clear: control over Venezuela’s oil. That admission alone strips away any pretense of legality or moral justification, exposing this act for what it is: imperial plunder enforced through military force. Legal experts have doubled down on the lawlessness of Trump's move. Jimmy Gurulé, a Notre Dame Law School professor and former assistant U.S. attorney, described Trump’s move as a “blatant, illegal, and criminal act.” Mark Nevitt, a former Navy attorney now teaching at Emory University School of Law, stated, “I see no legal basis for us to go into another country and take a leader without an extradition treaty.” This kind of illegal intervention did not begin with Trump. The United States has a long and well-documented history of destabilizing sovereign nations through coups, proxy wars, economic strangulation, and military force. From regime-change operations to sanctions that devastate civilian populations, U.S. foreign policy has repeatedly treated entire regions as arenas for domination rather than as nations with the right to self-determination. What distinguishes this moment is not novelty, but brazenness: Trump’s willingness to discard even the pretense of legality and say the imperial logic out loud. The implications extend far beyond Venezuela. This assault reasserts the United States as a destabilizing force not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but across the globe. In the same breath that Trump threatens Mexico, Colombia, Greenland, Cuba, Canada, and others, he has demonstrated a willingness to trample borders, normalize abductions of foreign leaders, and substitute force for diplomacy. This was an impulsive and reckless display of unchecked power that endangers lives and invites global instability. In the very same week Trump claims to be “holding a foreign leader accountable,” he welcomed, for the fifth time in a single year, Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal whose government is carrying out genocide, prolonged military occupation, settlement expansion, and systematic war crimes with full U.S. political and military support. Accountability, it seems, applies only to governments the United States seeks to overthrow, never to those it arms, funds, and shields from consequences. This operation represents a profound abuse of power and a direct threat to international order. It signals a United States willing to abandon law, sovereignty, and self-determination in favor of militarism and resource extraction. Congress must act immediately to investigate this operation, reassert its constitutional authority, and hold the administration accountable. The international community must also refuse to normalize what is, in essence, an act of imperial violence masquerading as enforcement. The world does not need more unilateral strikes, kidnappings, or wars. It needs an end to U.S. militarism, respect for sovereignty, and genuine accountability, applied consistently, not selectively. In solidarity, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) |
