Venezuelan Men Sue Aviation Firms Over Flights to Notorious Salvadoran Prison
Three Venezuelan men who were flown to El Salvador’s CECOT prison without a hearing last year have filed a class-action lawsuit against the private aviation contractors that transported them, alleging the companies rushed to complete the removals even as a federal judge worked in real time to halt the operation.
The suit, reported by Law360, names CSI Aviation Inc. and Global Crossing Airlines Group Inc. commonly known as GlobalX , as defendants, along with Level 3 Communications Inc. The complaint alleges the companies moved to “whisk away” hundreds of detainees to CECOT despite active federal court proceedings in which a judge was attempting to block the scheme. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit marks a shift in legal strategy for attorneys representing men sent to CECOT, moving beyond claims against the federal government alone to target the private contractors.
The March 2025 CECOT Flights
The lawsuit centers on flights carried out in mid-March 2025, when the Trump administration invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 Venezuelan men the government alleged were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, sending them to CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order that Saturday morning directing the government to halt the flights or turn planes back mid-air; the administration proceeded regardless, a decision Boasberg has since said may amount to contempt of court. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt has said the government “now concedes that they were removed without due process, a constitutional violation.”
Who the Companies Are
CSI Aviation, based in New Mexico, has served as ICE’s prime deportation-flight contractor, with contracts totaling more than $650 million over three years, including a no-bid award worth up to $219 million. GlobalX, a Miami-based charter carrier that has earned the nickname “ICE Air,” has operated more than half of all ICE deportation flights in 2024 and 2025, according to prior reporting, and was the carrier used for the March 2025 CECOT transfers.
What the Men Endured
The lawsuit is part of a broader wave of litigation from men held at CECOT, where Human Rights Watch has documented severe overcrowding and abuse. In a separate but related case, Venezuelan national Neiyerver Adrián León Rengel filed a $1.3 million claim against the federal government in March, alleging he was wrongly identified as a gang member, denied due process, and subjected to “inhumane and overcrowded conditions” along with “extreme psychological trauma” during his detention at CECOT before being freed in a prisoner exchange.
Attorneys involved in CECOT-related litigation have said they expect the various cases, including this new class action against the aviation contractors, to take years to resolve. Neither CSI Aviation nor GlobalX has publicly responded to the new lawsuit as of this writing.
