ICE agent accused of shooting immigrant during Minneapolis raid arrested

Police announced the arrest of Christian Castro, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. The man is charged with four counts related to a shooting that occurred during immigration operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The arrest was announced by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, which initially filed the charges against the ICE agent.

"I am pleased to hear Christian Castro has been taken into custody and will stand trial for the crimes he allegedly committed in Minnesota. Justice demands no less," stated Keith Ellison, Minnesota attorney general.

"Christian Castro’s alleged shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis appears unwarranted, as evidenced by the lies Castro told his ICE supervisors to justify his unlawful actions," the official added.

As reported by local authorities, Castro was located by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and jointly detained by agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and the Rangers, the oldest law enforcement agency in the state of Texas.

The Christian Castro case

Specifically, the case revolves around Castro's actions during an operation in Minneapolis, where prosecutors allege that the officer fired through the door of a home, striking a person who posed no immediate threat.

Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County prosecutor, contends that the shooting occurred "with the intent to instill fear of immediate physical harm or death to the four adults who were just outside the door."

In fact, one of the shots hit Julio César Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, who received a gunshot wound to the leg.

The initial version presented by federal authorities maintained that the ICE agents had been attacked during the operation and that they were in immediate danger. However, prosecutors began to investigate when they detected inconsistencies between the testimonies, the evidence gathered and the initial version.

According to the investigation, the images do not support the alleged assaultinitially described and suggest that the shot was fired recklessly through the door of a home, where there were also several people inside.

"Mr. Castro fired his service weapon at the front door of the home, knowing there were people who had just run inside that presented absolutely no threat to him or anyone else. The bullet punched through the front door and struck Mr. Sosa-Celis' leg before traveling through a closet and lodging in the wall of a child's bedroom," Moriarty said.

The incident occurred during Operation Metro Surge, a federal operation launched by the Trump Administration in Minnesota as part of a broader offensive to strengthen immigration enforcement.