A federal grand jury indicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro on charges of making false statements to investigators. The indictment stems from a January shooting in which Castro shot Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man, in the leg during an immigration operation in Minneapolis.
Castro also faces assault and false reporting charges in Minnesota state court related to the same incident. The Department of Justice has not publicly commented on the federal indictment.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, refused last week to immediately sign an extradition warrant that would have sent Castro to Minnesota, allowing Castro to be released from jail despite the state-level charges.
The shooting occurred during the Trump administration's "Operation Metro Surge," which launched in the Twin Cities in early December 2025. Thousands of federal agents deployed to arrest immigrants at bus stops, grocery stores and churches, sparking widespread protests and clashes.
Robin Wolpert, the attorney representing Sosa-Celis, said Castro's false statements aimed to conceal the shooting through a door without justification for self-defense. Wolpert contended the federal government has "grossly undercharged this case" despite evidence she says supports civil rights violations.
Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis of attacking agents with a shovel and broom. Kristi Noem, then-Secretary of Homeland Security, characterized the incident as "an attempted murder of federal law enforcement."
Federal prosecutors subsequently charged Sosa-Celis with assaulting a federal agent. Those charges were dropped after the U.S. attorney's office identified evidence "materially inconsistent" with preliminary hearing testimony.
Video released by the city of Minneapolis contradicted the initial federal account. The footage showed Sosa-Celis dropping a shovel and both men running inside a house as an agent fired in their direction.
Sosa-Celis was one of three people shot by federal immigration agents during the Minnesota operations. Two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by agents in separate incidents during the crackdown. Minnesota prosecutors announced in July they had obtained new evidence in the cases involving Good and Pretti.
