US brings federal charges against ICE agent accused of shooting Venezuelan migrant and lying about it

A federal grand jury has charged ICE agent Christian Castro with six criminal counts over the shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota and an alleged attempt to justify the shooting with a false account. The charges remain sealed until Castro is detained.

The case stems from the “Metro Surge” immigration operation in Minneapolis on Jan. 14. Castro shot 24-year-old Julio Sosa Celis in the leg. In his official report, the agent allegedly claimed that Sosa and another migrant attacked him with a broomstick and a shovel.

Minnesota prosecutors had already charged Castro with assault and filing a false report after determining that his account was false, according to judicial sources. Federal authorities are now trying to locate him. Castro was released in late August after spending nearly three months in Texas during an extradition dispute between state administrations.

Sosa’s case has become part of a wider controversy over the large deployment of security forces ordered by President Donald Trump in Minneapolis. During the same raid, two US citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, died after being shot by immigration officers.

The Trace has counted at least 30 firearms incidents involving immigration agents since January 2025, resulting in eight deaths. The reported increase prompted UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to call for independent investigations into what he described as opaque official procedures.

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Minnesota Justice accuses Castro of shooting Sosa in the leg and later filing a report about the incident in which he lied by accusing the migrants of attacking him