Minnesota officials charge ICE agent in shooting of Venezuelan immigrant

Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city.
Christian Castro, 53, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference. Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two U.S. citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson described the charges against Castro as “unlawful” and “a political stunt.” But the official also said “lying under oath is a serious federal offense” and federal prosecutors were “actively investigating these statements.” Two federal officers involved in the Sosa-Celis shooting appeared to have lied about events that led up to the incident, a senior ICE official said in February.