ICE agent federally charged with lying over shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been federally charged with lying about the events leading up to his shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in the leg earlier this year, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
The charges against ICE officer Christian Castro are not yet publicly available, but a person familiar with the matter told CNN that he is facing several counts of making false statements.
This is the first time the Justice Department has charged an officer for conduct that occurred on-duty during highly publicized immigration operations nationwide. Local prosecutors in Minnesota had already charged Castro with second-degree assault and making a false report earlier this year.
CNN attempted to reach a lawyer for Castro for comment.
The Justice Department is still considering whether to bring civil rights charges against Castro, one of the sources said.
Castro also faces the separate state charges in Minnesota. He was released from a Texas jail last week after the governor there declined to immediately approve his extradition to Minnesota.
Federal prosecutors initially charged 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, whom Castro shot, and another man with attacking an ICE officer with a snow shovel and broom stick. But those charges were dropped after investigators reviewed surveillance footage and other material from the incident that conflicted with Castro’s account.
Castro and a second agent were soon placed on administrative leave. Federal prosecutors told the judge overseeing the case against Sosa-Celis that the agents had made “false statements” under oath, and former ICE Director Todd Lyons said later the Justice Department was investigating the “untruthful statements.”
Prosecutors in Minnesota, who charged Castro in May, allege that he shot Sosa-Celis in the back of the leg through the door of Sosa-Celis’ apartment.
The shooting occurred after ICE officers had attempted to pull over a truck belonging to an undocumented immigrant named Joffre Barrera, the state alleged. Sosa-Celis’ cousin and DoorDash driver, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, was behind the wheel and drove off from the officers, they said.
According to Sosa-Celis, Aljorna ran from the truck and was tackled steps away from Sosa-Celis’ apartment by an ICE agent. Sosa-Celis called for Aljorna to get inside and, once both cousins were behind the door, a shot rang out, Sosa-Celis said.
“I closed the door and as I was locking it, I heard the shot, and that’s when I realized I had been shot in the leg,” Sosa-Celis told CNN at the time during a Facebook livestream from a hospital.
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
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