ICE Agent Charged For Shooting and Lying Appears in Minnesota State and Federal Courts

Minneapolis, MN — Facing four state felony assault charges and federal charges of lying to the FBI over a shooting in Minneapolis, 52-year-old recently suspended U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro made appearances in Minnesota state and federal courts last Thursday and Friday. Castro’s case has been politically contentious as officials have battled over extraditing the federal agent from his home state of Texas to face charges in Minnesota.

He’s the second ICE agent criminally charged by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office for actions during the deadly Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. The first was Greg Morgan Jr. who allegedly pointed his handgun at people in traffic in February.

Castro’s criminal charges evolved from a Jan. 14 shooting incident during the height of the federal occupation. After a car chase and a man he was following fled into a residence, Castro fired a shot through the front door wounding Julio Sosa-Celis — who was not the suspect being chased — and endangered other occupants, including children.

The shooting led to a large and sustained community response that ultimately pushed out authorities and ransacked a few cars they left behind, uncovering sensitive operational details abandoned by the agency.

Castro has been charged in state and federal court for providing a false account of what occurred, lying that he was attacked by men with a shovel and broom. Sosa-Celis, who suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, and another two men from Venezuela were federally charged with assault and jailed over Castro’s lie.

On Jan. 15 the Department of Homeland Security published a press release calling them “violent criminal illegal aliens who violently beat a law enforcement officer with weapons.” The federal charges were later dropped. The press release remains online with no correction.

In early April, the City of Minneapolis released video from a city-owned camera on 24th and Lyndale Avenues that contradicted Castro’s story that he had “fired a defensive shot to save his life.” Shortly after a 911 call came in about ICE agents in a vehicle pursuit, Minneapolis Police officers took remote-control of the camera and pointed it at the home as the action commenced.

Four months after the shooting, on May 18, Hennepin County charged Castro with four counts of felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon along with a misdemeanor for falsely reporting a crime. A nationwide arrest warrant was then issued for Castro.

Eleven days later, Castro was arrested in Texas to be extradited to Minnesota to face his charges. Yet, because Castro never signed a waiver of extradition and Gov. Greg Abbott declined to sign his extradition warrant, Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño released Castro without conditions 90 days later.

Before the 90-day limit that Texas could hold Castro expired, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott to force him to sign the warrant. A judge denied the order.

After Castro’s release, Ellison stated “Greg Abbott is playing the political game of turning Texas into a sanctuary state for accused felons and violent criminals.” Abbott then threatened to send immigrants to Minnesota in the future as he’s done with New York, Washington and Chicago.

A few days later, Castro was federally charged with six counts of making materially false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and was given a Sept. 18 court date to appear in Minnesota.

After driving to Minnesota last week from Texas, where he resides, he was arrested by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agents while visiting his lawyer and booked into the Hennepin County jail.

A judge set bail at $400,000 without conditions or $200,000 with conditions. Castro was bailed out and released on Sept. 17 for $200,000 and ordered to surrender his passport, sign a waiver of extradition, and submit to electronic home monitoring. Moriarty said they intend to proceed with state prosecution while a separate federal prosecution also moves forward with similar conditions of release.

Ellison said Minnesota would dismiss its lawsuit against Texas Governor Greg Abbott now that Castro is back in Minnesota and has signed the extradition waiver.

According to Castro’s criminal complaint, FBI agents initially agreed to conduct a joint investigation with investigators from the BCA and conducted one joint interview before informing the BCA “that they had been directed to cease working with” them. The complaint states that “federal authorities have prevented any further interviews of involved federal agents.”

This division between local and federal governments remains the same for the investigations into the killings of Renee Good, which happened a week before the shooting of Sosa-Celis as well as Alex Pretti, which occurred a week after.

Castro’s state court case number is currently 27-CR-26-12537 and his federal court number is 26-cr-00152-DWF-ECW-1. His next state court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. The next federal deadline is Oct. 2 for the parties to file a proposed case schedule. Read the full state complaint filed on May 18, 2026, here and below:

Cover image by Sean Summers for Unicorn Riot.

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