(AFP) – An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was charged by state prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday in connection with the January shooting of a Venezuelan migrant.
Christian Castro, 52, faces four felony charges of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty said at a televised press conference. Castro was one of two federal immigration agents placed on leave earlier this year for allegedly lying about the January 14 shooting in Minneapolis of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was wounded in the leg.
The shooting of Sosa-Celis came one week after a federal agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen and mother of three. Good’s death inflamed protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration raids in the city, and a second killing of US citizen Alex Pretti in late January fueled a national backlash against the aggressive Minneapolis crackdown.
Moriarty said a nationwide warrant has been issued for Castro’s arrest. “His federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” she said. “I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again,” she said. “There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal officers who commit crimes in this state.”
Moriarty said Castro had fired a shot through the front door of a residence, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg. “He shot through the door of a home with many people, including children, inside, while fortunately missing several others,” she said.
Federal prosecutors initially filed assault charges against Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, but later dropped them. In its initial statement about the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had said “an illegal alien from Venezuela” was targeted for a traffic stop and resisted arrest.
“While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle,” DHS said. The officer then “fired a defensive shot to defend his life.”
But Moriarty said Castro was “not hit by a shovel or a broom. In fact, he was not hit at all,” she said. Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but the killings of two Americans in Minneapolis, videos of masked agents snatching people off the streets, and reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, have contributed to a steep drop in his approval ratings.
© 2024 AFP
