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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | ICE Agent Arrested in Minneapolis to Face Charges Over January Apartment Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 17, 2026). A federal immigration officer accused of shooting a Venezuelan man inside a Minneapolis apartment building and providing investigators with a false account of the encounter has been arrested in Minnesota after a months-long dispute over whether he could be returned from Texas.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents arrested Christian Castro in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday. Castro had driven from Texas and was reportedly minutes away from surrendering at his attorney’s office when agents took him into custody.
He was booked into the Hennepin County jail and scheduled to appear Thursday on Minnesota charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime.
The charges arise from the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during Operation Metro Surge. Prosecutors allege Castro fired through an apartment door and struck Sosa-Celis in the leg while children were inside the residence.
Castro allegedly told investigators that Sosa-Celis attacked him with a snow shovel and broom. Prosecutors contend video evidence contradicts that account.
The case became the subject of an interstate dispute after Castro returned to Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused Minnesota’s extradition request. Castro spent approximately 90 days in a Texas jail before a federal judge rejected an effort to transfer him immediately to Minnesota.
Federal prosecutors later indicted Castro on a charge of making false statements. He was rearrested in Texas in early September before traveling voluntarily to Minnesota, according to his attorney.
The Department of Homeland Security has suspended Castro, and federal authorities have opened a civil-rights investigation. His federal indictment is the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal law-enforcement officer accused of misconduct arising from Operation Metro Surge.
Castro is expected to appear separately in federal court in Saint Paul on Friday. The charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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