A U.S. immigration agent was arrested in Texas on Friday, nearly two weeks after a Minnesota prosecutor filed charges alleging he shot a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Christian Castro, identified as an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Authorities say the charges stem from the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was wounded in the leg during a period of heightened federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, the chief state prosecutor in Minneapolis, said investigators from Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro in Texas and traveled there. Castro was arrested by Texas Rangers and agents with the Department of Homeland Security inspector general's office, the unit that provides oversight of ICE.
The shooting of Sosa-Celis occurred amid Operation Metro Surge, an enforcement campaign in January that deployed hundreds of masked and armed agents across Minnesota’s largest cities in search of immigrants. The period was marked by chaotic scenes, and the operation has been the focus of strong public protest.
Also in January, federal immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens on separate days in Minneapolis - Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In those cases, federal officials, including President Donald Trump and other administration figures, publicly defended the agents involved and attributed blame to the victims, actions that drew sharp criticism from many residents in Minnesota.
Moriarty's decision to bring state charges against a federal law enforcement officer is notable. Castro is the second federal official charged this year by Moriarty's office. The county attorney is pursuing legal avenues connected to the broader January incidents, including a lawsuit seeking access to evidence related to the killings of Good and Pretti, and has said she is considering whether to bring prosecutions against agents involved in those deaths.
In the Sosa-Celis matter, the Department of Homeland Security retracted its initial account after concluding that the ICE agents involved had provided false statements. Following that retraction, the Justice Department dropped its prosecution of Sosa-Celis. DHS has said two ICE officers, not publicly named at the time, were placed on administrative leave and could face federal prosecution for false statements, according to DHS statements.
Requests for comment about Castro’s arrest were not answered by a DHS spokesperson, and reports indicated it was not immediately clear whether Castro had retained legal counsel. Earlier, a DHS spokesperson described the state charges against Castro as "a political stunt." A spokesperson for the inspector general's office also did not respond to queries about the arrest.
The situation highlights overlapping state and federal investigative threads stemming from the January enforcement activities in Minnesota. State prosecutors, federal oversight bodies, and immigration authorities continue to navigate parallel inquiries while weighing potential criminal charges, administrative actions, and legal battles over evidence access.