Texas Rangers and federal brokers in South Texas arrested a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Friday who’s accused of mendacity about what led as much as him capturing a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis earlier this yr.
Minnesota prosecutors final week charged Christian Castro, 52, with 5 counts, together with second-degree assault and submitting a false police report in reference to the wounding of a person throughout an immigration operation in that state.
The Texas Division of Public Security mentioned in an announcement that Rangers assisted within the arrest of Castro in Cameron County on the Texas-Mexico border. In accordance with public information, Castro lives in McAllen, in neighboring Hidalgo County.
“In the present day’s arrest is a essential step ahead in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County legal professional, mentioned in an announcement.
The felony costs towards Castro stem from a Jan. 14 incident wherein ICE and Border Patrol brokers pursued undocumented immigrants as a part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Castro is dealing with three to seven years in jail and fines of $4,200 to $14,000 if convicted of the costs, the charging doc reveals.
On that night time, a Venezuelan man named Alfredo Aljorna led Castro and three different ICE brokers on a automobile chase that ended at his dwelling, based on the charging doc filed in a Minnesota courtroom. Aljorna later advised state investigators that the explanation he fled was as a result of the brokers had been in an unmarked automobile and he didn’t know who was chasing him.
Nonetheless, he managed to enter his home the place he and three different adults and three kids lived. Castro then fired on the entrance door, putting Aljorna’s roommate, Julio C. Sosa-Celis, within the leg, based on courtroom paperwork. After the capturing, Castro advised federal investigators that Aljorna and Sosa-Celis attacked him with a shovel and broom to keep away from being arrested, based on the courtroom doc.
Primarily based on Castro’s statements, federal prosecutors charged Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, each of whom are within the nation legally, with assaulting a regulation enforcement officer. However prosecutors dropped these costs after they reviewed footage of the incident that contradicted Castro’s testimony, based on courtroom paperwork.
A surveillance digital camera operated by native police captured the incident, displaying that Aljorna and Sosa-Celis didn’t assault Castro or every other brokers, courtroom paperwork say.
In February, ICE positioned Castro on go away. And ICE’s interim director, Todd Lyons, mentioned on the time that Castro was below investigation for showing to have lied below oath, which can be a federal crime.
However after state prosecutors charged Castro, ICE mentioned in an announcement that Minnesota’s prosecution is “illegal and nothing greater than a political stunt.”
This text first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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