A federal grand jury has indicted an ICE officer on prices of creating false statements concerning the nonfatal taking pictures of a person throughout the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota final winter, in accordance with an individual conversant in the case who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate delicate data.
The prices in opposition to the officer, Christian Castro of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, signify a uncommon occasion of President Trump’s Justice Department accusing a federal agent of prison wrongdoing at work.
Mr. Castro, who had been beforehand charged in state court docket, was among the many hundreds of federal brokers who flooded Minnesota over the objections of native officers. Those brokers made hundreds of arrests, clashed recurrently with residents and shot three folks throughout the marketing campaign, leaving two U.S. residents lifeless.
The indictment in opposition to Mr. Castro was filed beneath seal and officers count on to make it public as soon as he’s in custody.
Prosecutors stated Mr. Castro shot and wounded Julio C. Sosa-Celis, who’s from Venezuela and who lacked authorized standing within the United States. The Jan. 14 taking pictures was adopted by hours of protests and vandalism.
Top Trump administration officers initially got here to Mr. Castro’s protection. But in contrast to the administration’s place in different shootings, federal officers publicly distanced themselves from Mr. Castro within the weeks that adopted. Criminal prices in opposition to Mr. Sosa-Celis and one other man had been dropped, Mr. Castro was suspended and video footage emerged that contradicted key elements of the preliminary federal account.
It was not instantly clear whether or not Mr. Castro had employed a lawyer for the federal case.
Federal prosecutors had been nonetheless contemplating whether or not to file civil rights prices in opposition to Mr. Castro, the individual conversant in the case stated on Thursday.
Three different folks conversant in the case — Robin Wolpert, a lawyer for Mr. Sosa-Celis; Frederick J. Goetz, a lawyer for a roommate of Mr. Sosa-Celis who has been categorized as a sufferer within the case; and a 3rd one that spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate delicate data — stated in August that prosecutors had been getting ready to cost Mr. Castro with civil rights crimes. Ms. Wolpert and Mr. Goetz stated they’d been knowledgeable of these plans by prosecutors and that the costs didn’t materialize on the timeline they’d offered.
State prosecutors in Minnesota charged Mr. Castro with assault in May in reference to the taking pictures. He was arrested in Texas and held in a county jail for 3 months after declining to comply with extradition. When contacted by reporters via a jail messaging system, Mr. Castro didn’t reply.
He nonetheless has not answered to the state prices in court docket. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, didn’t log off on Mr. Castro’s extradition, normally a routine step when one state is looking for a switch of an inmate from one other, prompting Minnesota officers to sue Mr. Abbott in federal court docket in Texas.
A decide sided with Mr. Abbott, who stated he wanted extra time to think about the request, and Mr. Castro was released from jail final week beneath a Texas regulation limiting extradition detentions to 90 days.
Federal prosecutors don’t face the identical limitations in shifting a defendant from one state to a different, and Mr. Abbott wouldn’t need to log off for Mr. Castro to be transferred to Minnesota on the federal prices.
The taking pictures of Mr. Sosa-Celis acquired much less consideration than the opposite two shootings involving federal brokers in Minnesota final winter. It stays unclear whether or not immigration brokers will face prices in these different shootings, which resulted within the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, each American residents.
This is a growing story. Check again for updates.
Alan Feuer contributed reporting.