The core facts behind the corruption-tracker entry on CSI Aviation are on the record: federal records show the company holds ICE’s current call order for chartered deportation flights, and its owner, Allen Weh, is a former New Mexico Republican Party chair whose company hosted a Trump rally in its hangar in 2024. What is not established is the suggestion that those ties won CSI the work. Through Oct. 26, 2026, no inspector general, court or agency had made a finding of favoritism, and the most repeated label, “no-bid,” clashes with how the federal contract record codes the orders.
Where it stands: The current ICE call order to CSI Aviation runs through the end of October 2026, according to USAspending. Venezuelan men flown to El Salvador’s CECOT prison in March 2025 are suing CSI and its subcontractor GlobalX, and the Albuquerque Journal reported that “CSI Aviation and GlobalX have until Nov. 12 to file a response to the suit.”
What CSI Aviation and ICE have said
CSI has said almost nothing in public. The Killeen Daily Herald reported: “CSI did not respond to multiple requests for comment by phone and email.” On the lawsuit, the Albuquerque Journal wrote that “Officials with CSI and GlobalX and their attorneys did not immediately respond this week to phone and email messages seeking comment about the suit,” and that “Voice messages left for Weh were not immediately returned Friday.” Mother Jones reported in August that “GEO Group and CSI Aviation did not respond to multiple requests for comment.”
In June 2025 the Albuquerque Journal reported: “Weh recently declined to comment about the new contract, referring such questions to ICE.” An ICE spokesman told that paper only that “Removal missions are regularly conducted to countries in Central America, including Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as to destinations in the Caribbean, South America, and, when necessary, to Europe, Asia, Africa and other parts of the world for special high-risk missions,” without saying how many people had been flown under the CSI contract.
The sharpest public attack on CSI comes from a rival. William Walters, whose firm Salus Worldwide Solutions beat CSI for a self-deportation contract, has accused CSI and GEO Group of stoking scrutiny of Salus; Mother Jones wrote that he had offered no direct evidence for that charge. That dispute is covered in our Salus and Daedalus fact check.
Seven claims about the contracts, rated
The ratings weigh each claim against contract records, court papers and named reporting available to us.
| Claim | Verdict | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Tracker headline: CSI holds ICE deportation-flight orders and has a GOP-figure owner | Accurate as reported | KUNM: Weh is a former state GOP chair and 2014 Senate candidate; USAspending lists CSI as recipient of the ICE Air orders |
| ICE has spent over $1 billion with CSI | Accurate as reported | House Homeland Security Democrats wrote this in May 2025; later orders are larger |
| Money figure: the current call order plus the March 2025 task order | Accurate as reported | USAspending lists total obligations of 1,290,404,814.91 dollars on the call order and $562,049,742 on the task order |
| CSI got “no-bid” contracts | Disputed | POGO and the Albuquerque Journal call it no-bid; the federal record codes the task order as full and open competition with one offer |
| CSI won the work because of its Trump ties | Not supported by the record | Rally and donations are documented; no finding of favoritism; CSI held ICE work under earlier presidents |
| GlobalX flew 74 percent of ICE removal flights | Accurate as reported | House Democrats’ figure, citing POGO, for the year before May 2025 |
| CSI knowingly helped defy a court order on the CECOT flights | Disputed | An allegation in a pending civil suit; CSI has not answered publicly; no ruling yet |
The money in CSI Aviation’s ICE contracts
House Homeland Security Committee Democrats, led by ranking member Bennie Thompson, wrote to Weh in May 2025 that “ICE has awarded CSI Aviation several contracts to provide charter services and has spent over $1 billion on those contracts.” The letter, which is the members’ account, also said that “Over the past year, one CSI Aviation subcontractor, GlobalX, operated 74 percent of ICE’s removal flights.”
The federal record backs the scale. The task order that began in March 2025 shows $562,049,742 obligated, matching the Herald’s report that “more than $363 million” was added “to make a total of $562 million.” The follow-on call order, described in the record as covering “DEDICATED AND ON-DEMAND CHARTERED FLIGHT SERVICES,” began in November 2025 and is the largest CSI award listed.
Two widely repeated figures come from the CECOT lawsuit. The complaint, as quoted by the Albuquerque Journal, says CSI’s ICE revenue “in the first year of the Administration totaling $1.23 billion” and that it won a 2026 contract “with a potential value of $1.5 billion.” Those are the plaintiffs’ characterizations.
Obligations are not profit. CSI works as a broker: the Herald noted that its “role as a prime contractor shields its relationship with the airlines that actually transport detainees.” No source reviewed reports CSI’s margin.
Is “no-bid” accurate?
KUNM reported that “CSI previously held a no-bid contract for the ICE flights, according to the Project on Government Oversight,” and the Albuquerque Journal described a “$585.5 million no-bid contract” awarded in March 2025, citing federal contract records.
The USAspending entry for the March 2025 task order says otherwise on its face. It codes the order as “FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION” and lists one offer received. One possible reconciliation: the record shows the order was placed under an existing federal supply schedule, and such orders can be coded as competed even when only one company bids. Because the two descriptions conflict and no audit has settled the question, we rate the no-bid claim disputed rather than false.
Ties to Trump, and a longer history
The political links are documented. Weh “hosted a campaign rally for Trump days before the 2024 election,” Mother Jones reported, in CSI’s Albuquerque hangar. The Albuquerque Journal said the city had rejected the campaign’s “request to use the Albuquerque Convention Center for the event, citing planned repair work,” and cited FEC data showing Weh gave “$205,000 in four separate donations to Trump’s political committee last year.” The Herald reported CSI paid the lobbying firm Navigators Global “approximately $50,000” during 2025.
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The record does not show that those ties produced the contracts. The Albuquerque Journal reported in 2025 that CSI had “landed about $1.6 billion in contracts” from ICE “since 2005 under several different administrations.” The blanket purchase agreement behind the current call order was signed in March 2024, under President Biden, and its record lists seven offers. Rating the favoritism claim “not supported” is not a finding that none occurred; it means no investigator, court or agency has made one.
The CECOT flights lawsuit
According to the Albuquerque Journal, “The suit was filed on behalf of three Venezuelan nationals and seeks class certification for more than 230 Venezuelans who were on the March 2025 rendition flights.” It accuses CSI and GlobalX of carrying the men to El Salvador after Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the removals halted. Mother Jones reported that the complaint “notes that CSI and ICE agreed to modify their contract the day before the rendition planes took off.”
Anthony Enriquez of the Kennedy Human Rights Center, who represents the men, told the paper: “The law doesn’t excuse a company for carrying out an unlawful act just because the government is its customer.” These are allegations. The House Democrats’ 2025 letter also described one flight as having “illegally transported 238 foreign nationals,” which is the members’ characterization. As of October 26, no court had ruled on CSI’s liability.
CSI has also been a plaintiff. It protested the Salus self-deportation award, worth “up to $915 million over three years,” according to KUNM. Mother Jones reported that “In May 2026, a judge ruled against CSI after finding CSI hadn’t shown it could have performed the work.”
Latest status as of Oct. 26, 2026
The USAspending record for the call order shows a period of performance ending in October 2026 and was last modified in September. No public replacement order to CSI had been posted when we checked. The CECOT suit is assigned to Judge Boasberg, with CSI’s response due in November. For how this item compares with other entries, see the Trump corruption tracker and our explainer on how ICE’s expansion is funded.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns CSI Aviation?
Allen Weh, a former chair of the New Mexico Republican Party and the 2014 Republican Senate nominee, is the founder and president, according to KUNM and the Albuquerque Journal.
How much has ICE paid CSI Aviation?
House Homeland Security Democrats said in May 2025 that ICE had spent over 1 billion dollars on CSI contracts. USAspending lists two large recent orders: about 562 million dollars from March 2025 and a larger call order running to October 2026.
Was the CSI Aviation contract no-bid?
It is disputed. POGO and the Albuquerque Journal describe a no-bid award, while the federal contract record codes the March 2025 task order as full and open competition with one offer received.
Is CSI Aviation being sued over the El Salvador flights?
Yes. Venezuelan men flown to the CECOT prison filed a proposed class action against CSI and GlobalX in federal court in Washington. The claims are allegations, and the companies had not responded publicly as of Oct. 26, 2026.
Has any official found that CSI got contracts because of Trump ties?
No. As of Oct. 26, 2026, no court, inspector general or agency finding of favoritism toward CSI had been reported.
Sources
- Letter to CSI Aviation CEO Allen E. Weh — House Homeland Security Committee Democrats (Reps. Thompson, Thanedar, Correa), May 28, 2025
- Award record: ICE call order 70CDCR26FC0000001 to CSI Aviation — USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), record last modified September 15, 2026
- Award record: ICE task order 70CDCR25FR0000022 to CSI Aviation — USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), record last modified November 17, 2025
- Award record: ICE blanket purchase agreement 70CDCR24A00000001 (CSI Aviation) — USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), signed March 8, 2024
- Albuquerque aviation company files a complaint after losing a federal deportation contract — KUNM (NPR member station), November 3, 2025
- Killeen airport now serving as a base for deportation flights as local company revenues skyrocket — Killeen Daily Herald, fall 2025
- Albuquerque-based company a big-time player in ICE deportation flights — Albuquerque Journal via Yahoo News, June 15, 2025
- Suit: New Mexico firm profited from illegal rendition flights to Salvadoran prison — Albuquerque Journal, October 9, 2026
- As For-Profit Companies Battle Over ICE Contracts, Immigrants Are Caught in the Middle — Mother Jones (with POGO Investigates), August 2026
This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.