The Venezuelan men flown last March to El Salvador’s CECOT prison have filed a federal lawsuit against CSI Aviation and GlobalX, accusing the carriers of civil-rights violations, false imprisonment and other wrongs for operating three deportation flights. The complaint alleges the companies ignored a federal court order and knowingly delivered detainees to a facility where torture and severe abuses have been reported. The suit—filed on 17 July and led by human-rights lawyers—says the carriers profited from government contracts while plaintiffs continue to suffer lasting physical and psychological harm. Federal Judge James Boasberg will decide whether the case may proceed as a class action.
Venezuelan Detainees Sue CSI Aviation and GlobalX Over Flights To Notorious Salvadoran Prison
The Cecot prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, where the Venezuelans deported from the US were imprisoned.Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images
A group of Venezuelan men who were flown last March to El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) has filed a federal lawsuit against US aviation firms CSI Aviation and GlobalX. The complaint, filed on 17 July in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses the carriers of civil-rights violations, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other claims for their role in three deportation flights that delivered detainees to CECOT.
Lawsuit Allegations
The complaint alleges the companies "went to great lengths" to carry out what it calls rendition flights to El Salvador "in concert with the US government, in flagrant violation of U.S. and international law." According to the filing, the carriers knowingly transported detainees to CECOT despite a federal judge ordering the planes to return and despite a foreseeable risk that the men would be tortured there.
"Without CSI and GlobalX's complicity, neither Plaintiffs nor the Class would have been rendered to CECOT," the complaint states.
Operations, Contracts and Alleged Profits
The suit says CSI, incorporated in Texas, and Florida-based GlobalX were hired by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to operate the flights. CSI is described as a primary contractor for deportation flights under multimillion-dollar contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The complaint cites reporting that CSI was the single highest-value recipient of ICE contracts, with ICE-related revenue reportedly totaling $1.23 billion in 2025. For the three contested flights, CSI allegedly subcontracted GlobalX and acted as an intermediary between ICE and GlobalX.
Invocation Of Alien Enemies Act And Flight Timeline
On 15 March, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly expel hundreds of Venezuelan detainees, asserting alleged ties between Venezuela’s government and the gang Tren de Aragua. Authorities rounded up 252 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men in ICE custody and arranged flights to El Salvador; the administration has not publicly produced definitive evidence linking those deported to the gang.
The complaint alleges that after the aircraft departed for Central America a federal judge in Washington ordered the planes to return, but that the airlines and the administration ignored the order and proceeded on to El Salvador.
Arrival, Detention Conditions And Aftermath
According to the plaintiffs and a November 2025 Human Rights Watch report cited in the complaint, deportees were beaten on arrival, transferred to CECOT and subjected to abusive conditions. The HRW report described detainees’ treatment as amounting to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, and documented beatings, pepper spray use, rubber bullets and sexual assault.
More than 230 Venezuelan men were detained at CECOT for roughly four months; in July 2025 a group of Venezuelans returned to Venezuela as part of a prisoner-exchange arrangement involving the US, El Salvador and Venezuela. Salvadoran nationals deported on the same flights reportedly remained in CECOT. The US government has not released a full public roster of the deportees.
Legal Process And Reported Harms
The suit, filed by a team of human-rights attorneys, seeks to hold CSI and GlobalX accountable for their role in the deportation flights. Plaintiffs allege lasting physical and psychological harm—headaches, insomnia and emotional trauma—stemming from humiliation, terror and mistreatment during detention. Federal Judge James Boasberg, who presided over earlier litigation related to the CECOT deportations, will oversee this case and decide whether the plaintiffs may proceed as a class.
CSI, GlobalX and DHS did not provide substantive responses to the lawsuit by the time of the report; DHS referred inquiries to the Salvadoran government, which has not publicly disputed allegations about CECOT’s treatment of detainees. The litigation represents a broader attempt by rights groups to hold private contractors accountable for alleged abuses connected to mass deportation operations.
Help us improve.
