An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been hit with federal charges for allegedly lying about the circumstances surrounding his shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minnesota earlier this year, marking the first time the Justice Department has prosecuted an officer over actions taken while on duty during the recent high-profile immigration enforcement operations across the country.
ICE officer Christian Castro is facing several counts of making false statements, according to a person familiar with the case who spoke to CNN. The federal charges have not yet been made publicly available.
Castro was already facing prosecution in Minnesota, where local authorities charged him earlier this year with second-degree assault and making a false report in connection with the shooting.
CNN said it attempted to contact an attorney representing Castro for a response.
The Justice Department is also weighing whether to file civil rights charges against Castro, according to one source familiar with the federal investigation.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota criminal case against Castro remains pending. Castro was released from a Texas jail last week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declined to immediately authorize his extradition to Minnesota.
The case stems from the shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Federal prosecutors initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting an ICE officer using a snow shovel and broomstick. Those charges, however, were later dismissed after investigators examined surveillance video and additional evidence that contradicted Castro’s version of what occurred.
Castro and another ICE agent were subsequently placed on administrative leave. In court proceedings involving Sosa-Celis, federal prosecutors told the judge that the agents had given “false statements” while under oath. Todd Lyons, who was serving as ICE director at the time, later said the Justice Department was examining the “untruthful statements.”
Minnesota prosecutors filed charges against Castro in May, alleging that he fired through the door of Sosa-Celis’ apartment and struck him in the back of the leg.
According to the state’s account, the confrontation began after ICE agents tried to stop a truck belonging to Joffre Barrera, an undocumented immigrant. Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, a DoorDash driver and Sosa-Celis’ cousin, was driving the vehicle and allegedly drove away rather than stopping for the agents.
Sosa-Celis has said that Aljorna then fled the truck on foot and was tackled by an ICE agent just steps from Sosa-Celis’ apartment. Sosa-Celis called for his cousin to come inside, and after the two men made it through the apartment door, a gunshot was fired, according to his account.
“I closed the door and as I was locking it, I heard the shot, and that’s when I realized I had been shot in the leg,” Sosa-Celis told CNN at the time during a Facebook livestream from a hospital.
{Matzav.com}
