ICE agent Christian Castro pleads not guilty to federal charges related to Minneapolis shooting

ST.PAUL, Minn.

— Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro pleaded not guilty in federal court this morning to charges of making false statements to investigators about a shooting that took place in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge.”Castro is accused of shooting a man by the name of Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg back in January 2026.Prosecutors say Castro claimed he was being attacked, a claim contradicted by area surveillance video.In a brief hearing on Friday morning, Castro appeared in person wearing an ankle monitor, and confirmed he has surrendered all of his firearms.He was released on his own recognizance.

Castro, 52, had spent 90 days in Texas, in part because Texas Republican Gov.Gregg Abbott refused to sign an extradition warrant allowing his removal to Minnesota.

Castro was released this week, and returned to Minnesota where he was booked by officials there.At a hearing for his state case on Thursday, Judge Paul Scoggin set bail at $400,000, or $200,000 if Castro agreed to a series of conditions, including that he sign a waiver saying he wouldn’t fight extradition back to Minnesota if he leaves the state while out on bail.Castro, 52, was arrested Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis by officers with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on state charges of assault and false reporting of a crime stemming from shooting of Sosa-Celis.In both the federal and state cases against Castro, prosecutors say he shot 24-year-old Sosa-Celis in the leg while firing through the front door of a Minneapolis home.

They say Castro later falsely reported that he had been attacked with a broom handle and a snow shovel before firing his gun.“Castro invented a story to justify shooting through a front door into a house with multiple people in it,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, the prosecutor handling the state case, told reporters after Thursday’s hearing.“His appearance in a Hennepin Count...