ICE Agent Back in Custody After Federal Indictment in Minnesota Shooting Case
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Jonathan Allen
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. immigration agent was taken back into custody Thursday night in Texas, one week after his release from a county jail, following a federal indictment accusing him of making false statements about the January shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis.
Christian Castro, an enforcement officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was indicted on six counts of lying to investigators, according to a person familiar with the case who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The indictment adds to state assault charges in Minnesota, where Castro is accused of wounding Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during an ICE operation that became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's broader immigration crackdown.
The federal case is an extraordinary step for a Justice Department that has generally declined to prosecute ICE officers. The Trump administration has largely defended ICE agents, asserting they are absolutely immune from state prosecution — a position that does not reflect established law, according to legal experts. The case is believed to be the first known criminal prosecution of an immigration agent arising from the Minneapolis operation, and it tests whether federal law-enforcement officers can face consequences for on-duty conduct.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office brought the state charges, confirmed Castro was booked into custody in Texas on Thursday after being released from jail last week. She said she expects him to appear in federal court in Texas and that a date will be set later for him to appear in federal court in Minnesota.
A Minnesota state arrest warrant remains active, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to sign extradition papers sent by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. A federal judge in Texas also denied Minnesota's request to compel Castro's surrender.
In addition to the assault charge, Castro faces a count of falsely reporting a crime. Authorities allege he told supervisors at the Department of Homeland Security that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a snow shovel and broom before he fired his weapon. Video evidence undercut that account, prosecutors have said.
Castro spent 90 days in a Cameron County jail before his release. He has not publicly addressed the charges since then, and he could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security has suspended him. A separate civil rights investigation remains open, according to the person familiar with the case.
The case has also pulled in Matt Evans, a federal prosecutor who had been working on the matter. Evans was fired this week after ProPublica reported he emailed Sosa-Celis' lawyers saying Justice Department attorneys had blocked his efforts to pursue federal charges. Evans is now being investigated for obstruction of a grand jury investigation, the person said.
Robin Wolpert, a lawyer for Sosa-Celis, said the indictment shows Castro lied to cover up his shooting of a man through a door in an occupied house without self-defense justification. She said her client wants stronger civil rights charges. The ACLU of Minnesota said Thursday it will represent Sosa-Celis in a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
The shooting and the Minneapolis ICE operation drew weeks of protest and highlighted the administration's aggressive enforcement in cities that had sought to limit cooperation with federal agents. Lawyers and scholars watching the case say its outcome could influence how far state and local prosecutors can go in holding federal officers accountable for actions taken during national immigration sweeps.