MINNEAPOLIS — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro was arrested Wednesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and booked into the Hennepin County Jail on an outstanding state warrant charging assault and false reporting of a crime, the agency said, according to Reuters reporting carried by The Guardian. The charges are allegations; Castro is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

BCA agents took Castro into custody around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday near Second Avenue South and Third Street in downtown Minneapolis, CBS Minnesota and FOX 9 reported. Local outlets said he was held on the active Hennepin County warrant; FOX 9 cited jail records setting bail at $200,000 and a state court appearance for Thursday afternoon.

The state case stems from a Jan. 14 confrontation during the federal immigration deployment known as Operation Metro Surge. Prosecutors allege Castro shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, in the leg through the door of the man’s apartment while children were inside, Reuters reported. State charges also include false reporting of a crime after Castro allegedly told superiors at the Department of Homeland Security that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a snow shovel and broom — an account Reuters said was disproved by video evidence. FOX 9 described the state docket as four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon plus a misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime.

Castro already faces a separate federal indictment for making false statements to investigators about the January shooting. Reuters said he had been released on bond after an initial appearance earlier this month in a district court in McAllen, Texas, and that the federal case marked the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal law enforcement officer accused of wrongdoing arising from Operation Metro Surge. CBS Minnesota reported he pleaded not guilty to six federal false-statement counts and that a McAllen judge had set a $75,000 bond with a GPS ankle monitor. DHS has suspended Castro from ICE, Reuters reported.

Minnesota’s earlier efforts to bring Castro back for the state case stalled after he returned to Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to sign extradition papers sent by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, questioning whether Castro was a fugitive because DHS had reassigned him to Texas after the shooting, Reuters reported. Castro spent about 90 days in a Texas jail and was released Aug. 27 after a federal judge denied Minnesota’s bid for immediate extradition, then was re-arrested in Texas on the federal indictment in early September.

Under an agreement with Minnesota law enforcement, Castro voluntarily drove from Texas to Minneapolis to turn himself in at his attorney’s office, but agents arrested him minutes before he was due to arrive, lawyer Daniel Gerdts told Reuters. Co-counsel Rolando Cantu said Castro always intended to answer the Minneapolis charges and disputed prosecutors’ suggestions he might flee to Mexico: “He wants his day in court.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Wednesday: “Governor Abbott’s attempt to shield Mr. Castro from accountability has failed. We look forward to commencing our prosecution.” Castro was expected to make his first state court appearance Thursday and an initial federal appearance in St. Paul on Friday, Reuters reported.

The January shooting became a flashpoint in Trump administration deportation operations in the Twin Cities. Whatever the politics of federal immigration power, a federal officer facing state assault and false-reporting allegations — and a Justice Department false-statements case — is a test of whether LEO accountability still runs through ordinary courts.

Sources