MINNEAPOLIS — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged in the shooting of a man in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge in January was arrested Friday, May 29, in Texas.
Christian Castro, 53, was located by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators, according to a news release from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
He was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General agents and Texas Rangers, with the BCA investigators present at the scene, according to the release.
Castro was charged in Minnesota on Monday, May 18, with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis on Jan. 14 during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city.
He faces four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor of falsely reporting a crime.
Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two U.S. citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson described the charges against Castro as “unlawful” and “a political stunt.” But the official also said “lying under oath is a serious federal offense” and federal prosecutors were “actively investigating these statements.”
Two federal officers involved in the Sosa-Celis shooting appeared to have lied about events that led up to the incident, a senior ICE official said in February. That announcement came a day after U.S. prosecutors moved to drop charges against two men accused of assaulting ICE officers involved in the shooting, saying evidence in the case was “materially inconsistent with the allegations.”
The officers could face termination, as well as criminal prosecution, based on findings of the probe, the ICE spokesperson said.
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