ICE Agent Arrested in Texas for Minnesota Shooting

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was arrested in Texas on Friday for shooting a Venezuelan man in Minnesota earlier this year. Christian Castro, an ICE agent, faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime for the January 14 incident.

The arrest comes nearly two weeks after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assaulting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in a non-fatal shooting. According to Reuters, investigators from Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found Castro in Texas and worked with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general's office and the Texas Rangers to arrest him.

The incident occurred during Operation Metro Surge, which saw hundreds of ICE agents deployed across Minnesota. According to CBS News, the shooting started when ICE agents chased a man driving for DoorDash who lived in a home with Sosa-Celis. The complaint says that Sosa-Celis had a broomstick and swung it at Castro but did not hit him.

The charges triggered a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest, and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators tracked him down in Cameron County, Texas earlier this week. He was taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, the Texas Rangers, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County Attorney said that "Today's arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro." According to UPI, the charges against Castro are likely to result in an attempt to 'remove' this case to federal court, but Minnesota will still prosecute the case. If convicted, he won't be eligible for a presidential pardon.

The criminal complaint alleges that on January 14, Castro fired a gunshot into a home, "knowing it was occupied by multiple individuals." Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg. That evening, Castro told investigators that he had fired fearing for his life as three men beat him with a shovel and a broom for several minutes. For that, police arrested Sosa-Solis and his roommate, Alfredo Aljorna, for assaulting a police officer. But a Minneapolis police surveillance camera documented the encounter and showed no attack. Charges were dropped against the men.

According to The Los Angeles Times, online court records do not list an attorney for Castro and it wasn’t immediately clear if he has one. Messages seeking comment were left with ICE, the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office and the Texas Rangers.

The complaint alleged that at the time of the shooting, four adults and two children were inside the home. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said "In Minnesota, we believe in equal justice under law. That means nobody is above the law, including agents of the federal government." He further added that Castro's alleged actions appear unwarranted.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis last month released video showing the moments before Sosa-Celis’s shooting, captured from a distance by a city-owned security camera. The video appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over their conduct during Operation Metro Surge. The Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Trump’s national deportation campaign and considered Operation Metro Surge a success.

According to The Los Angeles Times, tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign, and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers sparked mass unrest and raised questions about officers’ conduct.