Christian Castro Ice Arrested in Texas After Minneapolis Charges
Christian Castro ice was arrested Friday in Texas after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him 11 days earlier with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the January shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa Celis. Hennepin County prosecutors said the state’s bureau of criminal apprehension found Castro with help from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office and the Texas Rangers.
Mary Moriarty and Castro
Mary Moriarty said, "Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr Castro" after the charges were announced. Castro is the second federal agent charged over conduct during the Minnesota crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge, and prosecutors said the case centers on what happened when he and another officer chased Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where Aljorna and Sosa Celis lived.
According to prosecutors, Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa Celis in the thigh. Todd Lyons said Castro was one of two agents who lied about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, a claim that tracks with the state case filed against him.
Minneapolis Surveillance Video
Federal authorities first accused Sosa Celis of repeatedly striking an ICE officer in the face with a broom handle and said a third, unidentified man beat the officer with a snow shovel in an altercation that lasted about three minutes. Minneapolis released surveillance video in April that showed no third man, no broomstick or shovel attack, and an altercation lasting approximately 12 seconds.
After reviewing the footage, prosecutors moved to dismiss their own case in February, and the Justice Department opened an investigation into whether the officers lied about what happened. ICE said the US attorney’s office was investigating statements made by officers and that they could face disciplinary action including being fired and prosecuted.
ICE and Hennepin County
ICE called the Hennepin County attorney’s action "unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt." The shooting took place during Operation Metro Surge, when the Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area as part of Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign.
The arrest leaves Castro facing Minnesota charges after the federal account of the shooting was challenged by surveillance footage, and it puts the state case back at the center of a broader review of what officers said happened inside the duplex. The practical next step is the prosecution tied to the assault and false-reporting charges against Castro.
