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ICE Agent Pleads Not Guilty to Lying About Minneapolis Shooting
Confirmed
In Short: Christian Castro, an ICE agent, pleaded not guilty to federal charges of lying to the FBI about shooting a Venezuelan man during a deportation crackdown.
Christian Castro, an ICE agent, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he lied to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Castro drove from Texas to Minneapolis on Wednesday to surrender himself, his lawyers said, and spent the night in the Hennepin County jail before being released on bail.
According to prosecutors, Castro told investigators that he fired at Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan delivery driver, when Sosa-Celis and another man attacked him in a struggle on the ground. However, Castro's defense attorneys have said he plans to plead not guilty.
Castro is the first federal law enforcement officer to be charged by the US Justice Department with wrongdoing in Operation Metro Surge, which saw thousands of armed, masked agents deployed to Minnesota’s cities last winter.
The court appearances follow an extraordinary months-long legal battle to have Castro, who lives in Texas, returned to Minneapolis. Castro faces both federal and state charges related to the shooting.
What's confirmed
- – An immigration officer pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he lied to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis early this year.
- Castro drove from Texas to Minneapolis on Wednesday to surrender himself, his lawyers said, and spent the night in the Hennepin County jail before being released on bail.
- After the nonfatal shooting on January 14, Castro told investigators that he fired at Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan delivery driver, when Sosa-Celis and another man attacked him in a struggle on the ground.
- “Mr. Castro invented a story to justify shooting through a front door into a house with multiple people in it,” Moriarty told reporters after Thursday’s state court hearing.
- Christian Castro, who has been suspended without pay from his job as a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is the first federal law enforcement officer to be charged by the US Justice Department with wrongdoing in Operation Metro Surge, which saw thousands of armed, masked agents deployed to Minnesota’s cities last winter.
- Prosecutors said Castro lied about the circumstances of the shooting, which occurred during "Operation Metro Surge" — part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of lying to the FBI about a January shooting in Minneapolis pleaded not guilty Friday to six federal counts of making materially false statements.
- Paul after prosecutors accused him of shooting 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg through the front door of a Minneapolis home during Operation Metro Surge.
What's still developing
- Castro’s plea in the US District Court in Saint Paul comes a day after he answered to separate state charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and falsely reporting a crime brought by Hennepin County prosecutors in neighboring Minneapolis.
- Fox News correspondent Christina Coleman reports from Dallas on a federal judge blocking attempts by Minnesota to extradite ICE agent Christian Castro from Texas.
- Sosa-Celis' shooting was followed by hours of protests and vandalism.
- He pleaded not guilty to the six counts of making false statements — one for each lie he allegedly told the FBI.
- Christian Castro, 52, appeared before a US magistrate judge after being indicted on six counts of making false statements about the January 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, the Associated Press reported.
- The federal case is separate from state charges filed in Hennepin County accusing Castro of assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the same shooting.
- Prosecutors had recommended 8-14 months of imprisonment, citing Kazmierczak’s guilty plea in May to “one-count indictment, pursuant to a plea agreement” and his prior run-ins with law enforcement.
- Kazmierczak attended Omar's Minneapolis town hall in January, during which the congresswoman called for former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign or face impeachment over her handling of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shootings in the city.