Democrats escalate war-crime accusations as White House calls ‘innocent fisherman’ the new ‘Maryland Man’ hoax
At least 22 strikes in Caribbean have killed 86 suspected traffickers since September
By Emma Colton Fox News
Published December 7, 2025 12:32pm EST
Democrat lawmakers are increasingly turning up the heat on the Trump administration over its series of military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean since September, most recently focusing on alleged drug runners who survived an initial strike and were killed by a follow-up.
"If the reports are true, [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth likely committed a war crime when he gave an illegal order that led to the killing of incapacitated survivors of the U.S. strike in the Caribbean," Nevada Democrat Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement earlier in December of strikes that killed suspected traffickers.
The White House told Fox News Digital on Friday that the Democrat criticism echoes the "Maryland Man" hoax, referring to the arrest of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member who was illegally residing in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia received an outpouring of support from Democrat lawmakers in March over his deportation to El Salvador, with lawmakers traveling to El Salvador to meet with him, and media outlets describing him as a "Maryland man."
"’Innocent fisherman’ is the new ‘Maryland Man’ hoax – just like the media tried to paint MS-13 human smuggler Kilmar Abrego Garcia as ‘father of the year,’ they are now running cover for foreign terrorists smuggling deadly narcotics intended to murder Americans. President Trump is using every element of American power to take on the cartels and stop deadly drugs from flooding into our country – just like he promised on the campaign trail," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox Digital.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-escalate-war-crime-accusations-white-house-calls-innocent-fisherman-new-maryland-man-hoax