An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was charged with assault Monday in the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in January during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
The agent, identified for the first time Monday as Christian Castro, 52, was charged with four counts of assault in the second degree and one count of falsely reporting a crime. There is a nationwide warrant for his arrest.
Castro and another federal officer who was present at the scene both alleged, under oath, that Julio Sosa-Celis attacked the agents with a broom handle and a shovel after fleeing a traffic stop. Castro then shot through the front door of a private residence where four people were inside, including Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg. According to the Department of Homeland Security at the time of the shooting, the agent “fired a defensive shot to defend his life.”
A representative for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, told reporters at a press conference on Monday that Castro was not attacked as he claimed. She also stated that Sosa-Celis is in the country lawfully and was targeted due to mistaken identity.
Moriarty expects that the case will be removed to federal court, where Castro can use supremacy clause immunity — which protects federal agents from state-level charges — as a defense.
“There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal officers who commit crimes in this state or any other,” Moriarty said.
The state of Minnesota has been fighting for cooperation with the federal government since Operation Metro Surge kicked off in January. The state sued the Trump administration in March over claims that it would not hand over evidence in the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens, and the Sosa-Celis shooting.
In the months that followed, state authorities have fought with the Trump administration to gain access to evidence in all three cases, while alleging that federal authorities are attempting to circumvent accountability for crimes allegedly committed during Operation Metro Surge.
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