The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the United States Coast Guard Wednesday on behalf of four Jamaican fishermen it says were detained without due process on four Coast Guard ships for over a month.
The ACLU said Robert Dexter Weir, Patrick Wayne Ferguson, Luther Fian Patterson, and David Roderick Williams were detained as part of the U.S. “war on drugs.” It claims the Coast Guard searches boats in international waters for drugs and detains crewmembers for prolonged periods of time.
“The Coast Guard has no authority to kidnap and disappear fishermen who are trying to make a living for themselves and their families,” Steven Watt, senior staff attorney with the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a press release.
