It’s been about 16 months since the Trump administration allegedly defied a federal judge’s order to return three planes carrying men it had labeled as purported members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA). For the Venezuelan men who say they endured four months of arbitrary detention without due process in a notorious El Salvador prison because of their tattoos, it has likely felt much longer.
A lawsuit seeking class action certification was filed by three of the deportees in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 17, 2026. The civil suit targets CSI Aviation Inc. and two other private contractors under its control for their roles in aiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the March 15-16, 2025, deportation flights that took the class members not to Venezuela, as promised, but instead to the El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) mega-prison. The men allege they were held there incommunicado while suffering abuse, torture, and being told the only way they’d leave CECOT “was in a coffin.”
The counts enumerated in the complaint include negligence, false imprisonment, civil rights conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The three plaintiffs, Andry Omar Blanco Bonilla, Wild Yahare Chirinos Romero, and Jerce Egbunik Reyes Barrios, accuse CSI and the other defendants of being fully aware that the flights were being conducted knowingly despite an order by Federal Judge James Boasberg requiring the planes either not to take off or to return immediately. They also allege that CSI/GlobalX employees deceitfully told the passengers that they were being returned to Venezuela when they were fully aware they would end up in El Salvador.
While the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and President Donald Trump are waging their own legal battle over the use of the AEA in J.G.G. v. Trump, the new suit seeks to hold CSI, ICE’s largest contractor, responsible in civil court. Each of the named plaintiffs was on a different plane and hopes to bring all other passengers into the class action.
Fly the Unfriendly Skies
On March 15, 2025, President Trump announced at a press conference at the Department of Justice (DOJ) that he was invoking the AEA to revoke the temporary protected status (TPS) granted to approximately 200,000 Venezuelans, whom he had repeatedly accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The next day, it was revealed that the U.S. had entered into a multimillion-dollar deal with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to house 300 alleged gang members at CECOT, a prison opened in 2023 and described by Human Rights Watch as appearing “to have been built to violate the dignity and rights of people held there.”
The suit alleges that CSI, which was operating under an “interim” ICE contract after a January 2025 contract was frozen by an administrative challenge to determine why it was accepted over another bid despite being $500 million more, scrambled extra planes to have an unprecedented three available at a Texas airport for the deportation of approximately 230 Venezuelan men. This, the suit charges, was part of an expedited removal plan designed to get the detainees out of the country before legal objections over a lack of due process could be filed. While they had been labeled as criminals and gang members, the complaint notes that more than 95% had no substantial criminal convictions and many had been detained for tattoos that allegedly marked them as gang members.
According to the complaint, by the time U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order, two of the three planes were already in the air, and the third departed despite the order. The suit further claims that after landing in Honduras, the planes continued on to El Salvador even though they were under a judicial order to return, citing a whistleblower’s report.
Not a Home Away From Home
Advocates and family members have described the transfers as ‘enforced disappearances,’ pointing out that the Trump administration initially refused to release the names of those sent to CECOT. The plaintiffs described the ensuing four months as being filled with torture, beatings, lack of food and water, and being used as props to “deter others” from immigrating to the United States. The lawsuit asserts that the men’s internment in CECOT would not have been possible without the participation of CSI and GlobalX, which the plaintiffs claim aided and abetted the U.S. government’s actions by continuing the flights despite the court’s order.
The eight counts of the proposed class action suit accuse CSI, GlobalX, and Global Crossing Airlines of making the refoulement (forced return to a place where they faced persecution) and inhumane treatment they received possible. It singles out the contractors for the following:
- Civil rights conspiracy (two counts)
- Failure to prevent civil rights conspiracy
- Safe conduct
- False imprisonment
- IIED
- Negligence
- Negligent IIED
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, along with the creation of a rehabilitation fund for the class members’ mental health. The complaint notes that the defendants have held more than $1.23 billion in federal contracts over the past year, highlighting the scope of their relationship with the federal government.
