A federal immigration officer accused of assault and lying about shooting a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis was arrested on Wednesday, eight months after the confrontation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro turned himself in to agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in downtown Minneapolis and was booked into the Hennepin County jail, according to the agency.
Castro's arrest comes eight months after a confrontation that became a focal point during President Donald Trump’s deportation sweeps. The agent already faced state assault charges in Minnesota related to the Jan. 14 incident, in which he shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg through the door of his apartment while children were inside. State charges also include false reporting of a crime, after Castro allegedly told superiors that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a snow shovel and broom, a claim disproved by video evidence.
A federal indictment unsealed earlier this month charged Castro with making false statements to investigators about the shooting. This marked the first prosecution by the U.S. Justice Department of a federal law enforcement officer accused of wrongdoing arising from the Minneapolis ICE deployment, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Operation Metro Surge, part of Trump's broader immigration crackdown, had drawn protests and clashes between ICE and demonstrators, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
Castro had been released on bond from federal custody earlier in September, wearing a GPS ankle monitor, after an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in McAllen, Texas.
Initial attempts to arrest Castro were complicated when he returned to his home state of Texas. Texas Governor Greg Abbott refused to sign extradition papers sent by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, questioning whether Castro, who had been reassigned to Texas by DHS, could be considered a fugitive. Castro spent 90 days in a Texas county jail before being released on August 27 after a federal judge denied Minnesota's immediate extradition request. He was re-arrested in Texas following his federal grand jury indictment.
DHS has suspended Castro from ICE, and a civil rights investigation into the Sosa-Celis shooting has been opened. Castro was expected to make his first state court appearance in Minneapolis on Thursday and an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Friday.
"Governor Abbott’s attempt to shield Mr. Castro from accountability has failed. We look forward to commencing our prosecution," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who brought the state case, said in a statement.