Federal prosecutors have charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with lying to investigators about a January shooting in Minneapolis, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. The charges remain under seal. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

The AP said the officer is Christian Castro, who authorities say shot Venezuelan national Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg during Operation Metro Surge, the Homeland Security immigration blitz that sent thousands of federal officers into the Twin Cities in January. Castro is charged with making false statements to federal investigators, the AP’s source said. He is the first federal immigration officer prosecuted by the Trump administration over conduct in that operation, the AP reported.

Federal prosecutors had first charged Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, with beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. Those charges were dropped after video evidence showed the officers may have lied about the encounter, the AP said. Then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons said in a statement at the time, quoted by ProPublica: “Video evidence has revealed the sworn testimony of the two agents appeared to be false.” Minnesota prosecutors allege Castro fired through the front door of a home and hit Sosa-Celis in the thigh. DHS previously called Minnesota’s state case against Castro “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” the AP reported, arguing only federal authorities have jurisdiction.

The federal false-statements count arrives after a fight over a more serious civil-rights charge. ProPublica reported Wednesday that Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans told victims’ lawyers Main Justice had directed that Castro be charged “only with False Statements.” Evans wrote that he “objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could.” A Justice Department official told ProPublica the civil-rights review was collaborative and that the department “has not yet reached a conclusion on this matter.” The AP’s source on Thursday disputed Evans’s characterization, saying the civil-rights probe is continuing and there has been no final decision on additional charges. The same person said Evans was fired Thursday and is under investigation for alleged obstruction of a grand jury probe. An automatic reply from Evans’s DOJ account said he was on leave, the AP reported.

Castro, 52, was suspended from ICE without pay in February. Minnesota has separately charged him with assault and false reporting. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to immediately sign an extradition warrant; a federal judge declined to force Texas to send him back, and Castro was released from jail in Brownsville last week, the AP said. Minnesota officials had warned he might flee to Mexico. The sealed false-statements charge is what Washington is willing to put on paper today. The shooting itself, and whether a civil-rights count follows, is still a fight inside the Justice Department.

Sources