An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent has been indicted on six federal charges, including lying about a shooting incident that occurred in Minnesota in January. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury and is expected to be made public once the agent, identified as Castro, is in custody.
The charges stem from an incident during Operation Metro Surge, a federal operation in Minnesota that involved the deployment of thousands of immigration officers and resulted in protests. During the operation, two U.S. citizens were reportedly killed and others were injured or charged.
Surveillance video from the January incident raised questions about the official account of events, prompting an investigation by federal prosecutors. In February, ICE indicated that two agents might have made untruthful statements regarding the shooting and placed them on administrative leave. Subsequently, charges against migrants involved in the incident were dismissed, with prosecutors citing newly discovered evidence.
Castro had been arrested in Texas in May and held for three months. The governor of Texas had previously refused to extradite Castro to Minnesota, where he faces separate state charges of assault and false reporting of a crime related to the shooting. The new federal indictment further complicates Castro's legal situation.