Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January during US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city.
Christian Castro, 53, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanour of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference.
Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents.
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In a statement, an ICE spokesperson described the charges against Castro as “unlawful” and “a political stunt”.
But the official also said “lying under oath is a serious federal offence” and federal prosecutors were “actively investigating these statements”.
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Two federal officers involved in the Sosa-Celis shooting appeared to have lied about events that led up to the incident, a senior ICE official said in February.