US warships head to the Caribbean amid escalation with Venezeula

American warships are heading into the Caribbean as the Trump administration's fight against drug smugglers ramps up. Eleven US ships are bearing down on our local coastal waters, and about 15,000 American troops will fill out the complement.

The largest US carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is among the ships making their way to the region. The USS Ford has the Carrier Strike Group on board, with nine carrier air wings, which is a total of more than 70 aircraft.

The Department of War, once known as the Department of Defense, has said that the ships are in service to the job of defending the homeland. They have been conducting strikes on alleged drug boats in the are to stop fentanyl from coming into the US. The effort has been called Operation Southern Spear.

"The military's job is to defend the homeland," Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said. "That’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re using our best assets to defend the homeland."

"Drugs kill more Americans than we’ve ever lost in wars," he went on to tell Fox News. "So I think at the end of the day, the president has correctly identified this as an attack on the country, which it is."

"The president is very focused on shipbuilding. He has been on me about it for a long time and continues to stay after me, which is great, because he’s committed to it and it’s really important," Phelan said.

"We hollowed out our manufacturing base in this country. And it’s really important that we learn how to make things. We spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We’re gonna spend the next 10 years teaching [people] how to use their hands, because those are going to be the important skills."

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has been accused of war crimes as part of the operation, with lawmakers saying that they want to bring the authority to enter into war back to Congress. His allege order to leave no survivors was cited after two survivors of a drug boat strike were targeted in a follow up attack.

Over the weekend, Trump declared airspace over Venezeula could be "closed" and has allegedly given Venezuelan President Maduro an ultimatum to flee his nation as the ships and troops from the US make their way to the area. Maduro asked for global amnesty "before talks stalled," Fox reports.