A timeline of US attacks off South America and what Congress has had to say

WASHINGTON (AP) — In less than two months, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say, the U.S. military has killed at least 57 people in 13 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 United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But 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,