Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, Christian Castro, with lying under oath regarding the shooting of a Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, during an immigration enforcement operation in January. Prosecutors allege that Castro provided false statements to federal investigators about the circumstances surrounding the incident, in which he fired into a Minnesota home where people were present.
The indictment was reported by the Associated Press and The New York Times, citing an unnamed source familiar with the investigation. The indictment is expected to be unsealed when Castro is detained. Castro, a former Department of Homeland Security agent, also faces multiple state felony charges in Minnesota related to the shooting, including assault with a dangerous weapon.
Authorities in Minnesota sought to extradite Castro from Texas to face trial, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to cooperate with the request. This led to Castro being detained in Texas for 90 days before his release last week, as Texas law prohibits holding an individual under an extradition order for longer than that. Castro's current whereabouts are unclear.
The charges against Castro are notable, as the Department of Justice has historically provided broad protections to immigration agents during enforcement actions, a stance that has been criticized by legal experts. No charges have been filed in connection with the fatal shootings of two other individuals by immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.
An Associated Press review from February indicated that approximately two dozen ICE employees and contractors have faced criminal charges since 2020. A report from the American Civil Liberties Union released in July highlighted instances of violent tactics and civil rights violations in about a third of the 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents reviewed in 2025.
After video evidence emerged contradicting Castro's initial claims about the incident, the Trump administration distanced itself from the case. Castro had claimed that Sosa-Celis attacked him, but surveillance footage showed that this did not occur. Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE at the time, stated that the footage indicated that sworn testimony from two officers contained untruthful statements.
Charging documents reveal that Castro and another agent pursued Alfredo Aljorna, a Venezuelan national, after a traffic stop. Aljorna fled to a home he shared with Sosa-Celis, and after a brief altercation, both men entered the house. Castro then fired through the closed door, knowing that the home was occupied by several individuals, including two children. Sosa-Celis was struck in the leg during the incident.
Federal authorities have since suspended Castro and dropped all charges against Sosa-Celis and his co-defendant, who were initially accused of assaulting an ICE officer. The other agent involved in the incident has also been suspended but has not yet faced charges.
The indictment follows a report from ProPublica indicating that DOJ officials had blocked efforts to pursue more serious civil rights charges against Castro, although the investigation remains active and could still lead to such charges. Since returning to office in January 2025, the Trump administration has reduced the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and dismantled several police oversight initiatives from the Biden era, while intensifying its mass deportation efforts. In August, immigration agents detained 50,925 individuals, marking a record for the highest number of arrests in a single month.