Minnesota prosecutors issued a nationwide arrest warrant Monday for a federal immigration officer they say shot an illegal immigrant -– then lied about the circumstances surrounding the gunfire during last winter’s ICE surge to the state.
ICE agent Christian Castro, 52, was charged with four counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and falsely reporting a crime for his alleged involvement in the shooting of Venezuelan migrant Julio Sosa-Celis during a chaotic anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 14, the Hennepin County District Court announced.
Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg during the fracas, and two other illegal immigrants were initially taken into custody after the Department of Homeland Security claimed they had instigated the violence by attacking ICE agents.
“What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement. Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement at the time, presumably referring to Castro.
However, the charges against all three illegal immigrants were dropped after video evidence contradicted the ICE officer’s story, the Star Tribune reported.
Castro was identified as the gunman during an interview at the shooting scene with a representative from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, as well as medical records from his subsequent visit to the hospital, the outlet reported.
Sosa-Celis, who illegally entered the country in 2022, was previously arrested for driving without a license and two counts of giving a false name to a peace officer but “released by Minnesota authorities before ICE could even lodge a detainer,” DHS has said.
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