An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was arrested Friday after being accused of shooting of an immigrant earlier this year and lying about it.
ICE agent Christian Castro was arrested in Texas by Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General agents and Texas Rangers after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators located him, according to a press release from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
Castro discharged his weapon through the front door of a Minnesota home knowing people were inside and hit a victim’s leg on Jan. 14, according to the release. The attorney’s Office charged him earlier this month with four counts of second degree assault and one account of falsely reporting a crime for the incident on Jan. 14.
On Jan. 14, Castro tried to arrest Venezuelan migrant, Alfredo Aljorna, after a car chase. Aljorna got away from Castro and the immigrant ran into his own home. Castro then discharged his weapon through the door, and hit Aljorna’s roommate, Julio Sosa-Celis, in the leg, according to The New York Times (NYT). Castro told investigators after that he had shot out of fear for his life as men struck him with a shovel and a broom for several minutes.
Based on this, Aljorna and Sosa-Celis were initially charged, but the charges were dropped after police video footage from that night was reviewed, according to the outlet.
ICE and the Justice Department then opened an investigation into the matter, according to ABC News.
Democratic Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that both Aljorna and his roommate were in the U.S. legally, the outlet reported.
Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison claimed that Castro lied to his ICE superiors to justify his actions, in a statement via the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s press release.
“In Minnesota, we believe in equal justice under the law. That means nobody is above the law, including agents of the federal government,” Ellison said in a statement via the press release. “I am pleased to hear Christian Castro has been taken into custody and will stand trial for the crimes he allegedly committed in Minnesota.”
ICE called Minnesota’s charges against Castro earlier this month “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” in a statement issued the day he was charged, according to NYT.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz notably compared ICE’s federal operations to the Nazi occupation during Anne Frank’s time in a January news conference.
When asked for comment the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and Ellison’s office each referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the press release from the attorney’s office.
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