Jul 26
Exclusive: CSI Aviation and GlobalX accused of violating civil rights as part of Trump immigration crackdown
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Exclusive: CSI Aviation and GlobalX accused of violating civil rights as part of Trump immigration crackdown
Trump Mega Donor SUED for Flying people to Torture Prisons in return for Billions in US Contracts?!?
Popok reports on the new civil rights class action suit brought against major Trump donors and election deniers that run a multi billion dollar government paid for transportation network for Homeland Security and ICE and who flew the three planes and dropped off 200 men to be tortured upon arrival in El Salvador!
Popok explains that going after US Companies who profit from Trump's civil rights abuse and torture is an effective strategy and the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center is leading the way.
Key takeaways from the report:
The Strategy: Instead of only suing government agencies, the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center and other firms are targeting the private contractors profiting from the government's transportation and logistics network (0:00-1:22).
The Defendants: CSI Aviation, led by Alan Wei and his daughter Deborah Wei Mastas, holds multi-billion dollar government contracts (1:46-7:27). Global X Airlines is identified as the primary subcontractor responsible for 70% of these 'torture flights' (2:32-7:55).
The Allegations: The complaint claims the companies acted as willing collaborators to help the administration circumvent judicial oversight (12:47-13:20). Plaintiffs describe systematic abuse, including denial of food, water, and medical care (13:57-15:07).
The Legal Goal: Plaintiffs are seeking damages, including punitive damages, and a rehabilitation fund to provide mental health services to the victims (15:08-15:46).
The presenter, Michael Popok, argues that hitting these companies' profits is a highly effective way to address the civil rights violations associated with these government contracts.
The super transparent and ethical Trump administration strikes again. The Department of Homeland Security just slid an almost $1 billion co
Lisa Needham at Daily Kos:
The super transparent and ethical Trump administration strikes again. The Department of Homeland Security just slid an almost $1 billion contract to Salus Worldwide Solutions, a company run by William Walters. That staggering sum is for “Project Homecoming,” the gross DHS program that ostensibly provides cash bonuses, free flights, and a “concierge service” at airports for immigrants who self-deport. Salus has never had a federal contract before, but surely it’s incredibly qualified and equipped to manage nearly a billion dollars, right?
We’re only learning about this sleazy deal because of a lawsuit filed by CSI Aviation, which details all of the backroom shadiness that went into making sure that Walters made bank. Walters, unsurprisingly, began greasing the wheels to make this happen even before President Donald Trump won the 2024 election. He took a belt-and-suspenders approach, giving $10,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC run by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's pals, and he also gave big bucks to the America First Policy Institute. AFPI was basically MAGA in exile until Trump returned to power. Founded by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, AFPI has managed to stuff dozens of people into the administration, including Rob Law, a DHS undersecretary of policy.
The corrupt Trump Regime’s DHS helps William Walters, a massive Trump donor, make bank on mass deportations.
The Appleton-based airline now plays a role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, flying between detention centers. Explore h
If you prefer to read plain text instead of an interactive article, the static version is linked here.
In January, Harbor Diversified Inc., the Appleton-based parent company of Air Wisconsin, sold the company’s operations and 13 of its jets to CSI Aviation, a New Mexico-based air charter company and longtime federal contractor owned by former New Mexico Republican Party chair Allen Weh.
[...]
CSI’s acquisition of Air Wisconsin transformed the airline’s flight patterns within a matter of weeks. The airline’s website no longer lists passenger routes, but flight data collected between Jan. 9 and mid-February indicates that the airline has largely ceded its role as a Midwestern regional carrier.
[...]
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is among the busiest in the country, but Air Wisconsin rarely provided service to the Twin Cities in the final months of 2025.
That changed in January, just weeks after the Trump administration dispatched thousands of federal agents to Minnesota for an immigration enforcement offensive dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Hundreds of immigrants detained in the operation have since departed the airport in shackles, loaded onto charter flights bound for ICE detention facilities farther south.
The modest airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, is now the epicenter of ICE’s deportation flight operations. Air Wisconsin has flown to or from Alexandria at least 30 times since the airline’s acquisition by CSI, on par with the airline’s service to Madison and outpacing service to Appleton, home to the airline’s corporate headquarters.
The GEO Group, an international private prison operator, runs an ICE detention facility on the airport’s tarmac. A dozen other ICE facilities sit within easy reach. Among them is the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi, where Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan national, died in custody on Dec. 14, 2025. ICE acknowledged the incident in a press release four days later, though the agency did not specify the cause of Rodriguez’s death.
Camp East Montana, ICE’s largest detention facility, sits just east of El Paso International Airport. Air Wisconsin flights took off from or landed in El Paso at least 32 times in January and early February, second only to Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport.
The camp drew national attention in early January after Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban national, died by asphyxiation after guards pinned him to the floor of a cell. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled the death a homicide.
Lunas Campos’ death came a month after Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old from Guatemala and detained at Camp East Montana, died in an El Paso hospital; ICE attributed Gaspar-Andres’ death to liver and kidney failure.
Another detainee, 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz of Nicaragua, died at the camp on Jan. 14 in what ICE described as a “presumed suicide” — an explanation his family questions. ICE agents detained Diaz in Minneapolis only days before his death.
Avelo Airlines Faces Backlash Over Deportation Flights Deal
Introduction Houston-based budget carrier Avelo Airlines is under fire after confirming its partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to operate migrant deportation flights. The move, first reported in May 2025, has triggered protests, legal battles, and reputational damage to the low-cost airline. Why the Controversy? Avelo became the first commercial airline to directly…