Updated September 3, 2026 at 4:41 PM EDT
Federal prosecutors have brought charges against an officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for lying to investigators about a shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minnesota earlier this year.
The criminal case is still under seal but was confirmed by a person not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.
The charges represent a rare moment of the Justice Department seeking to hold immigration officers accountable for their actions and tactics while conducting arrests.
Christian Castro, the ICE officer, was in north Minneapolis in January as part of a broad immigration crackdown in the state known as Operation Metro Surge. Authorities say he fired his weapon through a closed door and shot Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, in the leg.
The Justice Department initially charged Sosa-Celis with assault, but later dropped the charges after acknowledging that the officers involved had made untruthful statements about the incident.
Castro initially claimed under oath that Sosa-Celis attacked him, but surveillance footage contradicted his claim. Castro is separately facing state-level assault charges over the case in Minnesota.
Sosa-Celis's attorney criticized the new federal charges against Castro, saying the ICE officer "lied to cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house without a self-defense justification."
"Although the evidence strongly supports civil rights charges, the federal government has grossly undercharged this case. Mr. Sosa Celis wants Mr. Castro to be held fully accountable for his crimes," the attorney, Robin Wolpert, said in a statement provided to Minnesota Public Radio.
The Hennepin County attorney in Minnesota had sought to extradite Castro from Texas to Minnesota to face the charges, but a federal judge in Texas last week ruled against Minnesota's request to keep him in jail, pending his extradition.
"State law enforcement stands ready and willing to assist federal partners in facilitating Mr. Castro's arrest if needed," Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, said on Thursday.
Immigration enforcement officers faced widespread bipartisan criticism for their behavior during that immigration surge, including the killings of two U.S. citizens, as well as other violent incidents since then.
Federal immigration officers have shot at more than 20 people under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
In the latest incidents, ICE came under fire in July after the deadly shooting of two immigrants, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine.
In both instances, neither the target of the arrest nor the officers involved were wearing body cameras, according to the agency.
—With assistance from Minnesota Public Radio and the Texas Newsroom.
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