ST. PAUL, Minn. — An immigration officer pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he lied to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis early this year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge after prosecutors indicted him this month on six federal counts of making false statements about the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.
Castro, in a black suit and with an electric monitor visible at his ankle, said very little during the hearing. He was suspended without pay by ICE earlier this year.
Castro’s federal hearing came a day after he appeared in state court on assault charges and was released from custody. His defense attorney, Daniel Gerdts, declined to comment on the case as he left the courthouse Friday.
The court proceedings followed months of legal battles over whether Castro, 52, would be extradited from Texas, his home state, to face charges in Minnesota. He ended up returning on his own after being freed from a Texas jail last month.
The case was quickly pulled into national politics. Minnesota is a frequent target of President Donald Trump, who regularly derides Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who ran as the vice presidential candidate in the last presidential election, as well as Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, at times tied his refusal to sign Castro’s extradition warrant to ongoing investigations of massive fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota. Trump used the fraud investigations to justify the crackdown.
In both the federal and state cases against Castro, prosecutors say he shot 24-year-old Sosa-Celis in the leg while firing through the front door of a Minneapolis home. They say Castro later lied to investigators when he told them he had been attacked with a broom handle and a snow shovel before firing his gun.
Minnesota prosecutors charged him in May, but were thwarted in their efforts to extradite him from Texas, where he had been arrested.
He eventually turned himself in to federal authorities when officials sounded alarms that he might flee across the U.S.-Mexico border after being released from a Texas jail. He was indicted separately in U.S. District Court earlier this month.
It’s the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal officer for actions during this year’s Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of agents to the Twin Cities and led to sweeping protests, arrests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers.
During an earlier hearing before a federal judge in Texas, Castro was released on a $75,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor. He was also told to surrender his passport and any personal firearms.
Minnesota authorities have battled the Trump administration over who should handle any charges against Castro. The Department of Homeland Security has called Minnesota’s prosecution of Castro “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” saying only federal authorities have jurisdiction.
Authorities, including Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, arrested Castro in Texas on May 29, after a Minnesota judge issued a nationwide warrant.
Minnesota sought his extradition during his Texas detainment but Abbott refused to sign an extradition warrant.
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Associated Press journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this story.
