Minnesota officials on Monday announced charges against a federal immigration agent who shot a Venezuelan man in north Minneapolis in January.
U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agent Christian Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced during a Monday news conference.
There is also an active warrant out for Castro’s arrest.
On Jan. 14, ICE agents pursued Venezuelan national Alfredo Aljorna by vehicle then on foot to just outside his north Minneapolis home, where a struggle ensued between Aljorna and one of the agents. The agent, now identified as Castro, shot into the home’s front door, where the bullet hit Aljorna’s roommate, Julio Sosa-Celis, in the leg and then lodged in a closet in a child’s bedroom.
“A violent crime did occur that night, but it was Mr. Castro who committed it,” Moriarty told reporters. “Mr. Castro is an ICE agent but his federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota.”
According to the criminal complaint, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) arrived at the scene and interviewed one ICE agent before being blocked by the FBI from further investigating the incident. Hours later, BCA agents met Castro at the Cambridge Medical Center in Cambridge, where the agent underwent a medical examination and told state investigators that he had been assaulted.
However, video recovered by the BCA and later released by Minneapolis officials from a city traffic camera contradicted the account of Castro and the Department of Homeland Security, who called Sosa-Celis and two other Venezuelan men “attempted murders” and claimed the ICE agent fired defensively after the men beat the agent with brooms and a shovel.
Federal charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were dismissed with prejudice in February following inconsistencies between the testimony of two ICE agents on the scene, one of which was Castro, and evidence reviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Shortly after that, the two agents were placed on administrative leave while they were investigated for lying under oath.
“Mr. Castro was not under any physical threat when he fired his weapon or even beforehand. He was not hit by a shovel or a broom, and in fact, he was not hit at all,” Moriarty said. “His own boss, ICE director Todd Lyons, acknowledged that two ICE agents lied in the aftermath of this incident. Mr. Castro was one of them.”
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The incident was the second of three shootings by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge earlier this year, which resulted in the deaths of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti. Moriarty said her office is still gathering evidence in the killings of Good and Pretti, though the timelines on charging decisions remain unclear.
The prosecution of the case against Castro can begin as soon as the agent is in custody or makes a first appearance in court, Moriarty said. Second-degree assault with a gun carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years.
Moriarty said it is likely the case could be removed to federal court but the case will still be prosecuted by her office under Minnesota statute, which would make Castro ineligible for a presidential pardon should he be convicted. Castro could also invoke the Supremacy Clause, which protects federal agents from state prosecution for actions performed as they are carrying out their duties, but it has to be decided by a judge, she said.
“It is not absolute immunity, it is a defense that a federal agent could raise,” she said. “If a judge decides that Supremacy Clause immunity is not appropriate in this case, then we continue to prosecute it.”
