MINNEAPOLIS – On Monday, a prosecutor in Minnesota announced legal action against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer for a shooting incident involving a Venezuelan man, which took place during a federal crackdown under the Trump administration.
Officer Christian Castro is facing four counts of second-degree assault and a single count of falsely reporting a crime related to the January 14 incident involving Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty revealed these charges at a press briefing and confirmed that a warrant has been issued for Castro’s arrest.
“Being an ICE agent does not grant Mr. Castro immunity from state-level charges for his actions in Minnesota,” Moriarty emphasized, clarifying that Sosa-Celis did not pose any threat during the encounter. “Federal officers are not above the law when they commit crimes in this state or elsewhere,” she stated.
The shooting occurred when federal officers, including Castro, pursued a different individual to an apartment duplex shared by that individual and Sosa-Celis, resulting in Sosa-Celis being shot in the thigh. Moriarty assured that both men were legally residing in the United States.
Initially, federal authorities charged Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna with assaulting an officer using a broom handle and a snow shovel. However, these charges were dismissed by a federal judge, prompting an investigation into potential false testimony by the immigration officers involved.
Last month, the city of Minneapolis released video footage of the incident, captured from a distance by a city-operated security camera.
Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. DHS previously said that lying under oath is a “serious federal offense” and that making false statements could result in an officer being fired or prosecuted.
The administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. DHS, which oversees ICE, called Operation Metro Surge its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and deemed it a success.
But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers provoked mass unrest and questions about officers’ conduct.
Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, has been conducting investigations into multiple incidents and filed charges last month against an ICE agent for alleged actions while on duty.
Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have since clashed over which has the authority to investigate and prosecute officers for conduct while on duty. The Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials don’t have jurisdiction.
State officials have said they don’t trust the federal government to investigate itself or hold officers accountable.
“There’s no modern precedent for what happened to the people here in Minnesota,” Moriarty said Monday. “So it requires a lot of us to dig in and look at ways to hold people accountable that we probably never thought we would be looking at in our careers.”
Hennepin County continues to investigate Good’s and Pretti’s killings and sued the administration in March over access to evidence in the two cases, as well as in the case involving Sosa-Celis. Although Moriarty hasn’t charged anyone in either killing, she has said she’s confident her office’s investigations will bring transparency, even if not criminal prosecution.
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
