Ran into the same issue as root and threw me for a moment
could be an issue with your server settings set with compile
to test login to console with the same user and try your load data command
if you get the same error, try closing console and running
mysql -u USER -p --local-infile=1 DATABASE
now try running load data command again
if it works then you’re going to need to restart mysqld with command line option or re-install with configuration option
references (references are for 5.0 but worked for me with 5.5):
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/load-data-local.html
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mysql-command-options.html#option_mysql_local-infile