MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 A federal immigration officer wanted in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration\u2019s Minnesota crackdown was arrested Friday in Texas, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Christian Castro, of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, was taken into custody 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault<\/a> and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.<\/p>\n Hennepin County, Minnesota prosecutors said the state\u2019s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro, 52, in Texas, and the Texas Rangers said they assisted in the arrest in Cameron County, which borders Mexico in the southernmost part of the state.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Office of Inspector General said its agents were not involved in or present for Castro\u2019s apprehension, denying the Hennepin County Attorney\u2019s office\u2019s claims in press statements about the arrest.<\/p>\n \u201cAny characterization that DHS OIG agents participated in or led the arrest operation is inaccurate,\u201d the Office of Inspector General said in a statement.<\/p>\n Messages seeking comment were also left with ICE and the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n Online court records do not list an attorney for Castro, and it wasn\u2019t immediately clear if he has one.<\/p>\n In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty heralded the arrest as \u201ca critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro.\u201d<\/p>\n Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over their conduct during the Minnesota crackdown, which was known as Operation Metro Surge. He is one of two agents that ICE Director Todd Lyons said lied about the circumstances of the incident.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, Castro fired through a home\u2019s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and another officer chased a different man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived. Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were legally in the U.S., Moriarty said.<\/p>\n Federal authorities initially accused<\/a> Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. A federal judge later dismissed the charges, and ICE and the Justice Department opened an investigation<\/a> into whether the officers lied about what happened.<\/p>\n In a statement after the charges were announced, ICE said the U.S. attorney\u2019s office was investigating statements made by the officers, who could face disciplinary action including being fired and prosecuted. ICE called the Hennepin County attorney\u2019s action \u201cunlawful and nothing more than a political stunt.\u201d DHS\u2019s Inspector General\u2019s Office, which Moriarty credited with assisting in the arrest, is separate from ICE and is meant to serve as a watchdog for DHS agencies, including ICE.<\/p>\n Minneapolis last month released video<\/a> showing the moments before Sosa-Celis\u2019s shooting, captured from a distance by a city-owned security camera.<\/p>\n The video appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard. This happens as a person being chased by another person runs up from the street, falls on the sidewalk, gets up, and keeps heading toward the house.<\/p>\n The three appear to scuffle near the front steps for about 10 seconds. The exact moment when Sosa-Celis is shot isn\u2019t clear. A car with flashing lights pulls up, and another person walks up.<\/p>\n The Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s national deportation campaign and considered Operation Metro Surge a success.<\/p>\n But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign, and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a> by federal officers sparked mass unrest and raised questions about officers\u2019 conduct.<\/p>\n Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have clashed over who has the authority to investigate and prosecute federal officers for on-duty conduct.<\/p>\n