It is war crimes to bomb suspected drug smugglers. Even boarding suspected drug smugglers in international/foreign waters is not permitted, but you might credibly say something like "the drug problem is too damn high" even if Cocaine doesn't seem to be any bigger of a problem than it ever was. Process of inspecting boats is normal interdiction behaviour.

There's a big deal made about murdering defenseless survivors, but the first strikes (in the 20s, afaik so far) is already a murder/war crime. There is no credible evidence that most of the boats would even have the fuel capacity to reach the US.