A group of Venezuelan men who were sent to a notorious Salvadoran terrorism prison last year by the Trump administration are now suing the US aviation companies that provided the airlift. The lawsuit, filed this week in federal court in Washington DC, accuses CSI Aviation and GlobalX of violating their civil rights, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence, among other creative grievances.
The suit claims CSI and GlobalX “went to great lengths” to undertake the “rendition flights” to El Salvador, “in concert with the US government, in flagrant violation of US and international law.” Back in March 2025, the Trump administration expelled over 230 Venezuelan men from US immigration custody to El Salvador, where they spent four months in the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) - a place that makes regular prisons look like holiday resorts.
The plaintiffs allege the companies knew a federal judge had ordered the flights to return, and knew the men would likely be tortured, but proceeded anyway. Without their complicity, the lawsuit argues, “neither Plaintiffs nor the Class would have been rendered to CECOT.” The suit was filed on 17 July by a team of human rights attorneys and first reported by the Guardian.
Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of advocacy and litigation for the Kennedy Human Rights Center, told the Guardian: “Many people might not be aware of the degree to which private companies are intertwined with the human rights abuses occurring under the Trump administration.” CSI and GlobalX, hired by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have “enjoyed unprecedented financial profits from the scheme,” while the Venezuelans “continue to experience severe emotional suffering.” The DHS didn't address specific claims, instead referring questions to the Salvadoran government. CSI and GlobalX did not respond to requests for comment.
The case traces back to 15 March 2025, when Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to expel hundreds of Venezuelans, accusing the then-Maduro government of instructing the Tren de Aragua gang to “invade” the US. The administration rounded up 252 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men and shipped them to El Salvador under a controversial deal where the US paid millions to detain them in Cecot. The administration never proved the men were gang members.
GlobalX, “working at the behest of CSI,” positioned three planes at a Texas airport for the expulsion. After takeoff, a federal judge ordered the flights to return - but the administration and airlines ignored the order. “Despite knowing that El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison was a notorious blacksite, from which no detainee had ever left alive,” the lawsuit reads, “Defendants went to great lengths to transport Plaintiffs … in flagrant violation of U.S. and international law.”
Once in El Salvador, security forces boarded the planes, beat the deportees, and hauled them to Cecot. According to a November 2025 Human Rights Watch report, the men were “subjected to what amounts to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.” The report and lawsuit detail brutal conditions: guards beating, pepper-spraying, firing rubber bullets, and sexually assaulting detainees.
After four months, the Venezuelans were returned home in a prisoner exchange in July 2025. The Salvadorans sent in the same flights remain detained. The US government hasn't released the full list of deportees. The plaintiffs now suffer daily headaches, insomnia, and emotional distress. CSI and GlobalX, meanwhile, have profited handsomely: CSI alone received $1.23bn from ICE in 2025.
The companies haven't yet responded. Federal judge James Boasberg, presiding over the original Cecot deportation case, will determine whether the entire class can sue.