Venezuelan Deportees Sue Airlines Over CECOT Flights

What if the court already ordered the plane to turn around — and the airline flew on anyway? That is the core of a federal lawsuit filed July 17, 2026, in Washington DC by a team of human rights attorneys representing Venezuelan men who were sent to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. The suit names two US aviation companies: CSI Aviation, incorporated in Texas, and GlobalX, headquartered in Florida. Both were hired by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to carry out deportation flights.

What the lawsuit says happened

On March 15, 2025, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to expel more than 230 Venezuelan men from US immigration custody to El Salvador. The administration accused them of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — but it never proved that claim, and still has not. That same day, GlobalX, working under a contract brokered by CSI Aviation, positioned three planes at a Texas airport. After the flights took off, a federal judge in Washington DC ordered them to return to the US. The companies and the government ignored that order. The planes landed in El Salvador. Salvadorian security forces boarded the aircraft, beat the men, and transported them to CECOT — a maximum-security prison from which, the lawsuit states, no detainee had ever left alive at the time.

The men were held for four months. According to a November 2025 Human Rights Watch report cited in the lawsuit, they were subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international human rights law. Guards allegedly beat detainees, pepper-sprayed them, fired rubber bullets, and sexually assaulted them. The Venezuelan men were eventually returned home in July 2025 through a prisoner exchange deal. The Salvadorian men sent on the same flights are still believed to be detained at CECOT. The three main plaintiffs in the case now experience daily headaches, difficulty sleeping, and lasting emotional trauma, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit accuses CSI and GlobalX of false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and civil rights violations. CSI is described as the single highest-value recipient of ICE contracts, with revenue from ICE in 2025 totaling $1.23 billion. The suit says both companies "enjoyed unprecedented financial profits" while the Venezuelan men "continue to experience severe emotional suffering." Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of advocacy and litigation for the Kennedy Human Rights Center and one of the attorneys on the case, 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." Federal Judge James Boasberg, who is already overseeing the original CECOT deportation case, will preside over this lawsuit and decide whether the full class of Venezuelan deportees can join the suit.

What to do

• If you are in immigration detention and believe you are about to be deported to a country where you may face torture or persecution, tell your attorney or a legal aid organization immediately — you may have the right to request protection under the Convention Against Torture before removal.
• If you were deported under the Alien Enemies Act or sent to a third country without a hearing, contact a human rights attorney. This lawsuit shows that legal action against both government agencies and private contractors is possible.
• Document everything: dates, names of officials, conditions of detention, any court orders you were shown or denied. Written records are critical evidence in any future legal claim.
• If you have family members currently in ICE detention, ask a lawyer whether a federal habeas corpus petition — a legal request for a court to review the lawfulness of their detention — is an option before any deportation flight takes place.

What to do, step by step — see our guide “Your Rights During an ICE Encounter”.