U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro, 52, has been federally indicted by a grand jury in Minnesota for allegedly making false statements to investigators following the January shooting of a Venezuelan man, according to sources familiar with the matter. The charges stem from the Jan. 14 incident during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge
crackdown in Minneapolis (Fox News). Castro is accused of opening fire through the front door of an occupied home, striking 32-year-old Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg, and subsequently lying about the events leading up to the gunfire.
ICE Agent Christian Castro Indicted on Federal False Statement Charges
Robin Wolpert, the attorney representing Sosa-Celis, stated: Mr Castro has been indicted for making false statements. But he made them 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.
Extradition Clash and Release in Texas
The federal indictment follows an intense interstate dispute over separate state-level charges filed against Castro in Minnesota, where Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged him with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. After Castro was arrested in Texas, Texas Governor Greg Abbott refused to immediately sign an extradition warrant to surrender him to Minnesota authorities. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott and sought a temporary restraining order to block Castro’s release, but a federal judge ultimately ruled that the court had no authority to intervene in the interstate extradition dispute. Under Texas law, Castro was released from the Carrizalez-Rucker Cameron County Detention Center in Brownsville, Texas (Fox News).
Dropped Charges Against Sosa-Celis and Disputed Civil Rights Probe
Initially, federal authorities accused Sosa-Celis of attacking federal agents with a broom handle and a snow shovel (Fox News). Kristi Noem, the then-secretary of homeland security, described the incident as an attempted murder of federal law enforcement
. However, federal prosecutors dropped the assault charges against Sosa-Celis after the U.S. Attorney’s Office cited evidence that was materially inconsistent with preliminary hearing testimony, and video released by Minneapolis showed Sosa-Celis dropping the shovel and running inside as an agent fired.
The federal case has also sparked internal fallout within the Department of Justice. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans reportedly sent a letter stating he was stymied by senior Justice Department officials and U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen after being blocked from bringing more significant deprivation of rights under color of law
civil rights charges against Castro. Sources told ABC News that Evans was subsequently fired from the department, though officials disputed his characterization and maintained that the civil rights investigation into Castro remains ongoing.
