ICE agent makes first Minnesota court appearance after arrest

Castro will also make his first federal appearance Friday over false statements.MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — A federal immigration officer made his first appearance in Minnesota state court Thursday after state law enforcement arrested him in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in January.Christian Castro, 52, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was taken into custody by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Wednesday and was booked into the Hennepin County jail.Under an agreement with Minnesota law enforcement, Castro traveled from Texas to turn himself in to Minnesota authorities after a months-long effort to extradite the agent.“The process of holding Mr. Castro accountable for his firing of a weapon through the front door, striking Julio Sosa-Celis, endangering the lives of others and lying to law enforcement has begun,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference.As conditions of his $250,000 bail, Castro must waive future extradition proceedings, surrender his passport, possess no firearms and be on electronic home monitoring.The agent also must have no contact with witnesses or ICE agents.Castro’s defense attorneys said Thursday the agent always intended to answer to the Minnesota charges — disputing state prosecutors’ concerns that he might flee to Mexico.Castro previously spent three months in a Texas jail after Texas Rangers arrested him in May on the Minnesota charges. He was released from jail in August after Minnesota officials’ effort to extradite the agent stalled.Minnesota sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott over his refusal to extradite Castro, but a federal judge in Texas declined to order the extradition. Castro’s voluntary return has not quelled any continuing feud between the two states.“It never should have taken this long, and I share Minnesota’s frustrations that it did,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told reporters in a news conference. “There should never have been any question whether he’d have his day in court here, but instead of following the law, Governor Abbott decided to turn Texas into a sanctuary state for somebody accused of a violent crime.”Ellison noted his office has since dismissed the lawsuit against Abbott.In May, Minnesota state prosecutors charged Castro with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the January shooting, when they say he fired a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, striking Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg before the bullet struck a child’s bedroom wall.After the shooting, prosecutors say Castro falsely told Homeland Security officials that Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Aljorna, attacked him with a snow shovel and broom, which prosecutors say was contradicted by video evidence.The Justice Department originally filed federal charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna, but hastily dropped them in February after “newly discovered evidence” failed to align with what was laid out in Castro’s sworn affidavit.Federal prosecutors have since charged Castro over lying to investigators about the events of the January shooting — the first known instance of the government prosecuting a federal agent for actions taken during the Minnesota immigration enforcement surge.Castro made an initial appearance in Texas court on the federal charges earlier this month and was released on bond ahead of his scheduled federal court appearance in Minnesota on Friday.Castro’s case marks the second instance of criminal charges being brought against ICE agents in Minnesota. In April, agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. was charged with assault over reportedly pointing a gun at the heads of two people on the highway.Morgan made his initial court appearance in May after returning to Minnesota, and his next hearing is scheduled for November.Minnesota faces an uphill battle in its pursuit of criminal, state legal action against federal officers, as the supremacy clause of the Constitution gives federal agents broad immunity from such prosecution.Still, officials appear confident they can hold ICE agents accountable at the state level, and they have shown no sign of slowing down in their efforts over the last several months.“Christian Castro will not escape accountability," Ellison said.Sosa-Celis was one of three people in Minneapolis shot by federal agents during the immigration crackdown earlier this year. The other two, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by ICE officers.Castro’s next state appearance is on Nov. 3.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads