A group of Venezuelan men who were deported from the United States to El Salvador's notorious CECOT maximum-security prison have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against two U.S. aviation companies, alleging the carriers knowingly participated in unlawful deportation flights that resulted in months of arbitrary detention and torture.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names New Mexico-based CSI Aviation and Florida-based Global Crossing Airlines, better known as GlobalX, as defendants. The plaintiffs accuse the companies of civil rights violations, false imprisonment, negligence and complicity in transporting more than 230 Venezuelans to El Salvador despite a federal court order directing that the deportation flights be halted or returned.
According to the complaint, the airlines "went to great lengths" to carry out what the plaintiffs describe as "rendition flights" in coordination with the Trump administration, ultimately delivering the men to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, instead of Venezuela.
The lawsuit alleges the companies profited from multimillion-dollar contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while helping execute deportation operations that violated constitutional protections and international law. CSI Aviation served as ICE's charter broker, while GlobalX operated many of the aircraft used for deportation flights.
The plaintiffs are three Venezuelan nationals, Andry Omar Blanco Bonilla, Wild Yahare Chirinos Romero and Jerce Egbunik Reyes Barrios, who seek to represent the more than 230 Venezuelan men deported during the March 2025 operation. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who also presided over litigation involving the underlying deportation flights.
The deportations took place after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, arguing that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua constituted an invasion of the United States. Civil rights organizations have argued many of those removed had no criminal convictions or gang ties and were identified largely through tattoos or other disputed indicators.
The complaint alleges passengers were told they were being flown back to Venezuela, only to discover they had landed in El Salvador. Once transferred to CECOT, they claim they were held incommunicado for months and subjected to severe abuse.
According to the lawsuit, detainees endured beatings, psychological abuse, deprivation of food and medical care, and other forms of mistreatment amounting to torture. The men were eventually returned to Venezuela in July 2025 as part of a prisoner exchange but continue to suffer physical and psychological trauma, according to the filing.
Human rights organizations have previously documented allegations of systematic abuse inside CECOT. A joint investigation by Human Rights Watch and the Salvadoran organization Cristosal concluded that detainees experienced arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and conditions that violated international standards governing the treatment of prisoners.
The lawsuit argues the aviation companies cannot avoid responsibility by claiming they merely followed government contracts.
Instead, the plaintiffs contend CSI Aviation and GlobalX knowingly continued the deportation operation even after legal challenges were underway and despite judicial efforts to stop the flights. They argue the companies played an essential role because the removals could not have occurred without private charter aircraft.
The plaintiffs are seeking class-action certification, compensatory and punitive damages, and funding for long-term medical and psychological rehabilitation for those deported.
The case also places renewed attention on the growing role of private contractors in U.S. immigration enforcement. ICE increasingly relies on commercial aviation companies to conduct deportation flights, making firms such as CSI Aviation and GlobalX integral to the government's removal operations.
Neither company had publicly responded to the allegations at the time the lawsuit was first reported.
