Authorities say investigators fired shots into a home with people inside and lied about the situation.
Published September 3, 2026
Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer with lying on oath to investigators in connection with the shooting death of a Venezuelan man during an immigration raid earlier this year.
Prosecutors have argued that Christian Castro lied to federal investigators about what led him to shoot Julio Cesar Sosascelis, 24, through the door of his Minnesota home in January.
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The Associated Press and the New York Times reported on the indictment, citing people not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. It was expected that the seal would be lifted when Mr. Castro was taken into custody.
Castro, a former Department of Homeland Security official, is also charged in Minnesota with multiple state felonies related to the non-fatal shooting, including assault with a dangerous weapon.
Authorities in the Midwest state had sought Mr. Castro’s extradition from Texas to stand trial. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and ally of President Donald Trump, refused to cooperate with the request.
The ensuing standoff led to Mr. Castro being held in Texas for 90 days before being released last week. Under Texas law, the state cannot hold a person subject to an extradition order for any longer. His whereabouts were unknown as of Thursday.
The charges mark an unusual move by the Justice Department under the Trump administration.
President Trump’s administration officials have repeatedly maintained that immigration officials maintain broad protections while carrying out enforcement actions, a position rejected by many legal experts.
For example, no one has been charged in the January shooting deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preti by immigration agents in Minneapolis.
An Associated Press investigation in February found that about 20 ICE employees and contractors have faced criminal charges since 2020.
An American Civil Liberties Union report released in July found instances of violent tactics and other civil rights violations were documented in about one-third of the 1,200 immigration enforcement cases investigated in 2025 alone.
Video evidence contradicts statements
The Trump administration distanced itself from the Castro incident after a video was released that contradicted the agent’s initial account of the incident.
Mr. Castro told investigators that Mr. Sosascelis attacked him, but surveillance footage showed that did not occur.
Todd Lyons, who was acting ICE director at the time, said the footage revealed that “sworn statements provided by two separate officers appear to have made false statements.”
According to the indictment, Castro and a fellow agent pursued Alfredo Argiorna, a Venezuelan national, after a traffic stop.
Mr. Agiorna fled to the home he shared with Mr. Sosa-Celiz. After a brief confrontation, the two men fled inside. Castro then shot through the closed door “knowing that (the house) was occupied by several people,” the documents said.
One witness said there were two children in the home when Castro opened fire. Sosascelis was hit in the leg.
Federal authorities have since suspended Mr. Castro and dropped all charges against Mr. Sosascelis and his co-defendants, who were originally accused of forcibly assaulting an ICE officer. Another agent involved in the incident was also suspended but has not yet been charged.
Thursday’s indictment comes after ProPublica reported this week that Department of Justice (DOJ) officials blocked prosecutors from pursuing more serious civil rights charges against Castro, including “deprivation of rights under color of law.”
But sources close to the investigation told The Associated Press that an active investigation could still lead to civil rights violations.
Since returning to power in January 2025, the Trump administration has downsized the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and dismantled several Biden-era police oversight efforts.
This comes as the regime intensifies its massive deportation campaign across the country.
Immigration agents detained 50,925 people in August, a new record the Department of Homeland Security hailed as “the most arrests of illegal aliens in a single month.”
