A federal grand jury indicted an ICE officer on charges of making false statements about the shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minnesota during last winter’s deportation surge, officials said Thursday.
ICE agent Christian Castro was indicted on six counts of lying to federal investigators, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, the Minneapolis-based prosecutor who brought state charges against Castro, confirmed his re-arrest in Texas after his release from jail a week earlier.
“We expect he will appear in federal court in Texas, and a date will be set for his appearance in federal court in Minnesota,” Moriarty said.
The indictment represents an exceptional move by a Justice Department that has generally avoided prosecuting federal law enforcement officers. It marks the first known criminal case the department has brought against a US immigration agent over alleged misconduct in the Minneapolis ICE operation, part of President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown.
Castro faces assault charges for shooting, wounding Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis
Castro faces state assault charges in Minnesota for shooting and wounding Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg on January 14, at the height of Trump’s deportation campaign in the state, which drew weeks of protest.
A Minnesota state arrest warrant remained in effect for Castro, who spent 90 days in a Texas county jail before his release. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, refused to sign extradition papers sent by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, and a federal judge in Texas denied Minnesota’s request to compel Castro’s extradition.
The state charges also include falsely reporting a crime, after Castro allegedly told Department of Homeland Security supervisors that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a snow shovel and broom — assertions disproved by video evidence.
DHS has suspended Castro, and a person familiar with the case said a civil rights investigation remains ongoing with no decision reached yet.
Matt Evans, a federal prosecutor who had been working on the case, was fired this week after ProPublica reported that he sent an email to Sosa-Celis’ lawyers stating that DOJ attorneys had halted his efforts to bring federal charges. Evans is now being investigated for obstruction of a grand jury investigation, the source said.
Castro has not publicly addressed the state charges against him since his release from Cameron County jail last week and could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Trump administration defends ICE agents
The Trump administration has largely defended ICE agent conduct, incorrectly claiming they have absolute immunity from state prosecutions.
Robin Wolpert, a lawyer for Sosa-Celis, said in a statement that her client wants Castro held “fully accountable” with stronger civil rights charges. “Mr. Castro has been indicted for making false statements,” she said. “But he made them to cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house without any self-defense justification.”
The ACLU of Minnesota announced Thursday that it will represent Sosa-Celis in his lawsuit against the Trump administration.
