The U.S. Justice Department has filed federal charges against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro, accusing him of lying to investigators about a January confrontation in Minneapolis. During the incident, Castro shot a Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in the leg while attempting to arrest another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, who had fled a traffic stop. Castro initially claimed he was attacked with a broom handle and snow shovel, but video evidence and witness testimony later contradicted this account, leading a federal judge to dismiss earlier assault charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna.
Minnesota state prosecutors separately charged Castro with second-degree assault and filing a false police report, and he was briefly held before being released after Texas’s governor declined to immediately sign an extradition warrant. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had initially defended the shooting as a justified response to an attempted murder, while lawyers for the two Venezuelan men stated their clients had no violent criminal history.
The Justice Department is currently weighing whether to bring additional civil rights charges against Castro regarding the shooting itself. The episode has intensified scrutiny and political pushback surrounding ICE’s expanded enforcement operations, with Democratic lawmakers pushing for required body cameras and identifying badges due to inadequate oversight.