ICE agent charged with lying about shooting a Venezuelan man in Minnesota

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Christian Castro, has been federally charged with lying to investigators regarding a January shooting incident in Minneapolis. Castro is accused of making false statements about the events that led to him shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man, in the leg. The shooting occurred on January 14, 2026, during the Trump administration's "Operation Metro Surge" in Minnesota, an immigration crackdown that involved numerous federal agents.

Federal prosecutors initially claimed Sosa-Celis and another individual attacked officers with a shovel and broom. However, video evidence later contradicted this account, resulting in the federal charges against Sosa-Celis being dropped. Castro now faces federal charges for lying to investigators, and also separate state-level charges in Minnesota for assault and falsely reporting a crime related to the same incident.

The federal charges follow Castro's release from a Texas jail last week. This release occurred because Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to sign an extradition warrant that would have sent Castro to Minnesota to face state charges. This case marks the first known instance of the Justice Department prosecuting a federal immigration officer for actions taken during the "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis.