# ICE Shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis (January 14, 2026) A federal immigration agent shot a Venezuelan man, **Julio Sosa-Celis**, in the leg through the front door of a north Minneapolis home during the Trump administration's January 2026 Twin Cities immigration enforcement blitz — then filed a false account of the encounter. More than four months later, on May 29, 2026, the agent was arrested and charged, a rare instance of state-level criminal accountability for a federal immigration officer. ## The Shooting On January 14, 2026, agent **[[Christian Castro]]** (52) fired through the front door of a north Minneapolis home, knowing people had just run inside, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg. In his report, Castro claimed Sosa-Celis and another man had come at him with a shovel and a broomstick. Video evidence contradicted that account — the timeline and the physical struggle Castro described did not match what the footage showed. The shooting occurred amid a broader immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities that also produced the separately documented [[ICE Minneapolis Killings]] of U.S. citizens in the same month. ## The Arrest and Charges On the morning of May 29, 2026, Castro was arrested in Texas. Minnesota state investigators (the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) tracked him down, and Texas Rangers and federal inspectors took him into custody. He faces **four counts of second-degree assault** and **one count of falsely reporting a crime** in connection with the shooting. The case is being prosecuted by Hennepin County Attorney **[[Mary Moriarty]]**, who called the arrest "a critical step forward in our prosecution" and said her office was pursuing accountability "on behalf of Mr. Sosa-Celis, his family, and our community." ## Since May: federal charges and the extradition fight The full record is on [[Christian Castro]]. In brief: - **Sept 3, 2026:** a federal indictment was unsealed charging Castro with six counts of making false statements. A Justice Department prosecutor who wanted a civil-rights count was overruled and later fired (see [[Prosecutorial Discretion]]). - **July 31 to Sept 17, 2026:** Governor [[Greg Abbott]] declined to extradite him, and Attorney General [[Keith Ellison]] sued to compel it. Castro was arrested by Minnesota investigators on Sept 17 when he came to the state for his federal court date, and Ellison dropped the suit. - **Sept 17–18, 2026:** released on $200,000 conditional bail in the state case; pleaded not guilty in federal court. Neither case has been tried. ## KB Significance **State accountability against a federal agent.** For months the administration insisted its immigration agents were effectively untouchable. The Castro case is one of the clearest counterexamples: a locally elected prosecutor charging a federal agent for an on-duty shooting and a false report, using state criminal law. **The false-report pattern.** As in the [[ICE Shooting of Ruben Martinez]], the agent's initial narrative (an attack with improvised weapons) was contradicted by video — fitting a recurring pattern in which the government's first account of an immigration-enforcement shooting does not survive contact with the evidence. **Part of the Minneapolis enforcement wave.** The shooting is one of several violent January 2026 incidents tied to the Twin Cities crackdown, alongside the [[ICE Minneapolis Killings]]. ## People | Person | Role | |---|---| | **Julio Sosa-Celis** | Venezuelan man shot in the leg through the front door. He has no separate page; this event page is where the vault tracks him. | | **[[Christian Castro]]** | ICE/HSI agent; shooter; charged with assault and false reporting | | **[[Mary Moriarty]]** | Hennepin County Attorney prosecuting the case | ## See Also - [[Christian Castro]] - [[Operation Metro Surge]] - [[Mary Moriarty]] - [[ICE]] - [[ICE Shooting of Ruben Martinez]] - [[ICE Minneapolis Killings]]