From the article (emphasis added):

"I don't think there's an armed attack" against the U.S. by the drug cartels, John Yoo, a Berkeley law professor, told me.
Yoo's skepticism is especially notable. That's because he was famously one of the drafters of those post-9/11 memos while working at the OLC in the Bush administration and, despite considerable criticism of his analysis, has never changed his position. Even for him, the Trump administration's arguments are hard to accept.

"They're not attacking us because of our foreign policy and our political system," Yoo said, drawing a distinction between al Qaeda and drug traffickers who may be based in Venezuela. "They're just selling us something that people in America want. We're just trying to stop them from selling it. That's traditionally, to me, crime. It's something that we could never eradicate or end."

If that is correct, then the boat strikes constitute murder under federal law and are also illegal under international law. Trump may be immune from criminal prosecution in the U.S. thanks to the Supreme Court, but everyone else involved, in theory at least, faces the risk of federal prosecution in a future administration unless Trump at some point grants some or all of them a pardon.