An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer facing assault charges for the alleged shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minneapolis has been arrested in Minnesota.
Christian Castro, 52, was taken into custody by agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in Minneapolis.
Castro was booked into the Hennepin County Jail on an outstanding warrant on Wednesday and is being held on a $200,000 bail.
A federal immigration officer wanted on assault charges for shooting and wounding a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis has been arrested there, eight months after a confrontation that became a flashpoint over President Trump’s deportation sweeps. https://t.co/JliQbAuG1X
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 17, 2026
The Hill explained further:
Castro is scheduled to appear in a downtown Minneapolis courtroom on Thursday afternoon on charges including four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He has not yet entered a plea.
The Hill has reached out to Castro’s attorney for comment.
ADVERTISEMENTThe charges stem from a January scuffle that occurred after an attempted traffic stop during Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities, where Castro has been accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg and lying to authorities about how the incident unfolded.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security initially claimed that an officer, determined to be Castro, fired a “defensive shot” after being attacked by three men with a snow shovel and a broom handle.
But court documents revealed that the men had dropped the broom and shovel and were running toward a nearby apartment “as soon as [they] saw his pistol.”
According to The Guardian, Castro had been released on bond from federal custody earlier this month after appearing in a Texas district court.
Castro was being held on charges of lying to investigators about the circumstances of the January shooting.
“Thank you to our partners at the BCA for taking Christian Castro into custody earlier today. He will appear in Hennepin County Court tomorrow afternoon,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.
Thank you to our partners at the BCA for taking Christian Castro into custody earlier today. He will appear in Hennepin County Court tomorrow afternoon. https://t.co/O3qf2UJnjW
— Mary Moriarty (@MaryMoriarty) September 16, 2026
More from The Guardian:
Under an agreement with Minnesota law enforcement, Castro voluntarily drove to Minneapolis from Texas to turn himself in to state authorities at his attorney’s office but ended up being arrested minutes before he was due to arrive, the lawyer, Daniel Gerdts, told Reuters.
Another lawyer representing the ICE agent, Rolando Cantu, said his client always had intended to answer to the charges in Minneapolis. He disputed Hennepin county prosecutors’ assertions that Castro might flee to Mexico, saying: “He wants his day in court.”
The federal indictment charging Castro with making false statements marked the first justice department prosecution of a federal law enforcement officer accused of wrongdoing arising from the massive Minneapolis ICE deployment dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
ADVERTISEMENTThat operation, part of Trump’s wider immigration crackdown, drew weeks of protests and clashes between ICE and demonstrators, leading to the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal agents.
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