Three Venezuelan men sued Albuquerque-based CSI Aviation Inc. and subcontractor Global Crossing Airlines in July 2026, alleging the companies helped transport migrants on deportation flights despite a judge’s order. The complaint seeks damages and class certification for more than 230 Venezuelans, and says the defendants helped carry out the flights to El Salvador.
The case is before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It is assigned to Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, who also presided over litigation about the March 2025 flights.
The complaint alleges that CSI and GlobalX supplied transportation for the removals while a court proceeding to stop them was underway. It alleges the companies knowingly conspired with ICE to falsely imprison the men.
The complaint says the flights continued after a judge intervened
The suit traces the events to March 14, 2025, when President Donald Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law, to remove Venezuelans. The proclamation alleged the men were members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
On March 15, the men boarded three GlobalX planes at an airport in Harlingen, Texas, the complaint says. They had been assured they were returning to Venezuela.
As the planes departed, Boasberg held an unusual Saturday evening hearing and issued an order prohibiting the administration from deporting the men to the Central American country. The suit alleges that two planes were already headed toward El Salvador.
The complaint says the order did not stop the flights. It alleges the companies moved all three aircraft to the country while proceedings to halt the removals were unfolding.
“Chief Judge James E. Boasberg expressly prohibited the Administration from carrying out the removals.”
The suit says CSI and GlobalX “rushed to provide transportation services essential to the scheme's success, even as proceedings before a court in (U.S. District Court) seeking to halt the flights were unfolding, alongside widespread public reporting and scrutiny”.
The complaint seeks damages under civil-rights and other claims
The plaintiffs accuse the contractors of civil rights conspiracy, failure to prevent civil rights conspiracy, safe conduct violations and common-law violations. The complaint also alleges they conspired with ICE to falsely imprison the men.
It says that imprisonment led to “confinement, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” including extreme physical and psychological torture at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. The suit seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to certify a class of more than 230 people who were on the flights.
Anthony Enriquez, vice president of advocacy and litigation for the Kennedy Human Rights Center, said the case seeks to hold contractors accountable for actions taken on behalf of federal agencies. He said the government’s conduct is already before the courts, but private companies provided planes, crews, clearances and landing permits.
“The law doesn't excuse a company for carrying out an unlawful act just because the government is its customer.”
Enriquez said Boasberg ruled last year in the separate government case that the administration had attempted to evade judicial review. The current lawsuit names the contractors as defendants.
The filing describes detention, family separation and a later exchange
The complaint says the men were humiliated and tortured in detention. Their families, it alleges, had no information about their whereabouts beyond what they could glean from media reports.
Feliz Rael, an attorney with the Law Office of Feliz Rael, described the conditions alleged in the suit. He said the men were not given due process or allowed to speak with family members or lawyers.
“Each person had to sit on a concrete floor for sometimes 23 hours a day. They were not provided with clean water, and enough water. So a lot of these people had ended up with kidney failure or kidney damage”
CECOT was built to fight the country’s gang problem and has a reputation for torture and abuse. The men later returned to Venezuela in July 2025 as part of a prisoner exchange negotiated between the United States and Venezuela.
Filings cite ICE contract totals and Weh’s political history
Court documents describe CSI as the single highest-value recipient of ICE contracts that year, with revenues totaling about $1.23 billion. Legal filings say the company received over $1.2 billion in ICE contracts during the first year of President Trump’s second term.
The lawsuit also says CSI received a new ICE Air contract worth as much as $1.5 billion in 2026. Those figures appear in court documents and legal filings; they do not establish the truth of the plaintiffs’ allegations about the flights.
Allen Weh, the company’s founder and CEO, formerly chaired the state Republican Party. He made unsuccessful bids for governor in 2010 and the U.S. Senate in 2014.
Local trial lawyer Ben Davis said the suit alleges Weh and his family donated significant sums, in the six figures, and that the company received a no-bid contract worth more than a billion dollars. Davis also said the complaint alleges both companies knew where they were taking the men and knew a judge had ordered the removals stopped.
“The best way to hold companies like this accountable, companies like CSI in Albuquerque accountable, is hit them where it hurts, and that's the pocketbook.”
Davis also called the case a way to expose alleged fraud, corruption, torture and abuse. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for the three plaintiffs and the proposed class.
The contractors have until Nov. 12 to respond
CSI and GlobalX have until Nov. 12 to file a response. Company officials and their attorneys did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
Rael said he sees a strong chance for the plaintiffs but cautioned against certainty. “I think there's a good, a very good chance. I mean, you know, as a lawyer, I'm always reluctant to say anything is definite because anything can happen”
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
