A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses CSI Aviation and GlobalX of civil rights violations, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and other misconduct for transporting Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador.
According to the complaint, CSI and GlobalX “did their utmost” to carry out the “rendition flights” to El Salvador, “coordinating with the U.S. government in blatant violation of U.S. and international law.”
In March last year, the Trump administration deported more than 230 Venezuelans detained in the U.S. to El Salvador, where they were held for four months in a maximum-security terrorism prison and subjected to torture.
The lawsuit alleges CSI and GlobalX knowingly transported the individuals to El Salvador despite a federal judge’s order to turn the flights around and despite being aware that they risked torture inside the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot).
“Without the assistance of CSI and GlobalX, the plaintiffs and the class members would not have been taken to Cecot,” the complaint states.
The case, filed on July 17 by a group of human rights lawyers and first reported by the Guardian, represents one of the latest efforts by advocacy groups to hold private contractors accountable for their alleged role in abuses stemming from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
CSI Aviation Inc, based in Texas, and GlobalX, based in Florida, both played key roles in the administration’s mass deportation campaign. CSI brokered “nearly all” deportation flights under a multimillion-dollar contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is ICE’s highest-value contractor, with revenue from the agency reaching $1.23 billion in 2025.
On March 15 last year, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act as part of a strategy to expel hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants from the U.S. The administration then rounded up 252 Venezuelans and Salvadorans in ICE custody and deported them to El Salvador. The government never proved that these Venezuelans were members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
On the same day the act was invoked, GlobalX, “acting at the direction of CSI,” arranged three aircraft at a Texas airport for the deportations. After the planes departed for Central America, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered them to return. The administration and the airlines ignored the court order and the flights landed in El Salvador.
Upon arrival, Salvadoran security forces boarded the aircraft, beat the deportees, and transferred them to Cecot. A November 2025 Human Rights Watch report said the individuals “suffered arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international human rights law.”
Four months later, in July 2025, the Venezuelan group was repatriated following a prisoner exchange among the three countries. The U.S. government has yet to release the full list of those deported to Cecot.
The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit report daily headaches, insomnia, and emotional trauma from the experience. CSI and GlobalX have not responded to the lawsuit. Judge James Boasberg, who handled the original Cecot deportation case, will oversee proceedings and decide whether the entire group of Venezuelans can sue as a class.
