On Dec. 31, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out successive "lethal kinetic strikes" on two vessels U.S. Southern Command alleged were operated by designated terrorist organizations along known narco-trafficking routes, killing five people — three aboard the first vessel and two aboard the second. SOUTHCOM presented no evidence, identified no one, filed no charges, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. These were the 34th and 35th strikes of Operation Southern Spear and are the earliest strikes in this archive's record of the campaign.
On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) money to every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories "effective immediately," saying it would release the funds only after each state supplied unspecified "administrative data." The freeze followed a Dec. 30 announcement by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill and was publicly justified by unverified fraud allegations amplified from a Dec. 26 viral video targeting Somali-American-run day cares in Minnesota. Child-care advocates noted that states already run longstanding, annually updated anti-fraud controls and warned that even a month without funding could force thin-margin providers to close, harming families regardless of whether they receive subsidies.
On Dec. 30, 2025, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted "lethal kinetic strikes" on a three-vessel convoy in the eastern Pacific that U.S. Southern Command described as operated by designated terrorist organizations along narco-trafficking routes, killing three people aboard the first boat. Men aboard the other two vessels jumped overboard before follow-on strikes sank the remaining boats; SOUTHCOM said it notified the Coast Guard for search and rescue, but the search began only after a roughly 45-hour delay and was suspended on Jan. 3 with no survivors found. The command identified no organization, made no evidence public, charged no one, and attempted no interdiction or arrest in what it counted as the 31st through 33rd strikes of a campaign that had by then killed at least 110 people.
On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal child-care funding to Minnesota, with Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill announcing the move on X and crediting a viral video by conservative activist Nick Shirley that alleged fraud at Somali-run day-care centers. HHS — which sends roughly $185 million a year in child-care funds to the state, supporting day care for tens of thousands of children from low-income families — simultaneously imposed a new nationwide condition requiring states to submit a justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before receiving Administration for Children and Families payments. The freeze landed amid the administration's Operation Metro Surge ICE deployment targeting Minnesota's Somali community and was expanded the next day into a freeze of child-care funding to all 50 states.
On Dec. 29, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal "kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. U.S. Southern Command claimed the boat was operated by designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no evidence to support the claim. It was the 30th known boat strike in the campaign since Sept. 2, bringing the reported death toll to at least 107.
On or about December 24, 2025, the CIA carried out a drone strike on a dock on Venezuela's coast that U.S. officials said was used by the gang Tren de Aragua to load drugs onto boats; no one was reported on the dock and no one was killed. It was the first known U.S. attack inside Venezuelan territory, a sharp escalation of the administration's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro beyond the at-sea "drug boat" strikes. President Trump publicly claimed credit, saying the U.S. had "knocked out" a "big facility" in "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."
On Dec. 22, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a "lethal kinetic strike" on a low-profile semi-submersible vessel transiting international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing one person, U.S. Southern Command announced. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was operated by an unnamed designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route but released no evidence of drugs aboard or of an imminent threat, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. It was the 29th strike of Operation Southern Spear, which had killed 105 people since early September.
In a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker named Centuries off Venezuela, the second sanctioned tanker the United States took within roughly ten days, as part of President Trump's declared "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil vessels entering or leaving Venezuela. The White House called Centuries a "falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet," while Venezuela condemned the seizure as "a serious act of piracy" and said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.
On December 18, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two successive lethal strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 27th and 28th of the campaign — killing five people in total, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command asserted the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations on known narco-trafficking routes but provided no charges, evidence, or attempt at interdiction or arrest. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.
On December 17, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people. U.S. Southern Command described the boat as operated by a designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route, but provided no charges, judicial process, or independent evidence. The same day, Senate war-powers resolutions intended to constrain the campaign failed to reach the floor.
On December 16, 2025, President Trump announced via Truth Social that he had ordered a "complete blockade" of all U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, declaring the country "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America." The unilateral order — issued without congressional authorization — became the operational basis for a wave of Coast Guard tanker seizures and interdictions off Venezuela in the days and weeks that followed.
Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a 56-year-old Bulgarian national, was found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead on December 15, 2025 at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, operated by the GEO Group. ICE described the cause as "suspected natural causes" pending investigation. His death was the fourth ICE custody death in four days that month, prompting Democratic lawmakers to formally demand a federal investigation into medical care and oversight failures at the facility.
On December 15, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 23rd strike of Operation Southern Spear — killing eight people. U.S. Southern Command asserted the boats belonged to designated terrorist organizations transiting known narco-trafficking routes but filed no charges, released no evidence, identified no individuals, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. Lawmakers from both parties questioned the legality of the strikes as the campaign's reported death toll reached approximately 95.
Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian national, died on December 12, 2025, at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey — roughly one day after entering ICE custody at the GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall Detention Facility. ICE reported he showed no signs of distress at intake and listed the cause of death as "unknown." His family and advocates sought an independent autopsy and called for the facility's closure; Brutus was believed to be the first detainee to die at Delaney Hall since it opened in May 2025.
On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14365, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," directing the Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to sue states over AI laws the administration considers excessive. The order also instructs the Commerce Department to identify conflicting state laws and to condition states' access to federal broadband (BEAD) funds on compliance, and directs all federal agencies to weigh conditioning discretionary grants on states not enacting conflicting AI legislation — achieving through executive action what Congress had not enacted.
On December 10, 2025, U.S. forces seized the crude-oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela in a pre-dawn operation launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, boarding the vessel with Coast Guard and Marine personnel under a DOJ civil-forfeiture warrant. President Trump announced the seizure at a White House event, declaring the U.S. would keep the roughly 1–2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude on board. The action — the first vessel seizure of a broader oil-blockade campaign — was carried out without congressional authorization; Venezuela condemned it as "an act of international piracy."
Pete Sumalo Montejo, a 72-year-old citizen of the Philippines and lawful permanent resident, died on December 5, 2025, at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, while in ICE custody. He had been hospitalized multiple times between May and November 2025 for serious illnesses including septic shock from pneumonia and anemia, but was returned to ICE detention after each stay. ICE attributed the death to suspected natural causes and, in its public release, foregrounded his criminal history.
On December 4, 2025, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing four people on board. The Department of Defense claimed the boat was operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and was carrying narcotics, but released no supporting evidence. The strike was one of roughly 23 carried out since early September 2025, in which approximately 87 people had been killed without arrest, charge, or any judicial process.
Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan national, died on December 3, 2025 at a hospital in El Paso after months of declining health while detained at Camp East Montana, ICE's tent-camp facility at Fort Bliss — the first confirmed death at that facility. He had been arrested in Florida in September 2025 and transferred to the camp, where detention medical staff treated him before he was hospitalized in November; medical staff attributed his death to complications of alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis. His wife, who was detained alongside him, was deported before being allowed to see him, and ICE did not notify Congress until six days after he died.
On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications and freezing adjudication of immigration benefits—including green cards, work permits, and naturalization—for nationals of 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban, while also ordering a review of every green card already issued to people from those countries. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and a November 26 shooting near the White House as justification and stated the freeze would remain until lifted by a future directive. On June 5, 2026, a federal court vacated the policies as contrary to law and pretextual.
