ICE Agent Charged Following Shooting of Venezuelan Man in Minneapolis
What happened
ICE agent Christian Castro was arrested and charged with making false statements to investigators regarding the January shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis.
Castro surrendered to authorities and subsequently pleaded not guilty to the federal charges during a court appearance in St. Paul, after which he was released from custody.
Why it matters
This case marks the first known instance of the Department of Justice prosecuting a federal immigration officer for actions taken during the Minneapolis-based Operation Metro Surge, representing a rare effort by federal authorities to hold an immigration agent accountable.
Context
The shooting occurred during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement effort by ICE and CBP that began in December 2025 and concluded in February 2026.
Operation Metro Surge was characterized by significant controversy, including reports of 3,000 arrests, the deaths of two civilian protesters, and findings by a federal judge that ICE had violated at least 96 court orders in Minnesota.
Sources 8 sources
This briefing cites 6 publishers across 6 detected independent reporting streams.
- Associated Press ICE officer pleads not guilty to lying about shooting and is released from custody - apnews.com
- Cedar News ICE agent accused of shooting a man and lying about it arrested in Minnesota
- Headtopics ICE agent arrested in shooting of immigrant in Minnesota
- Headtopics ICE agent pleads not guilty to federal charges in Minneapolis shooting of Venezuelan man
- Npr ICE officer faces federal charges for lying over shooting of Venezuelan immigrant - NPR
- The Hill ICE officer charged with lying about shooting turns himself in: Reports - The Hill
- The Washington Post ICE agent charged with lying to investigators in nonfatal Minneapolis shooting - The Washington Post
- Wikipedia Operation Metro Surge Background reference · Wikipedia text used under CC BY-SA 4.0.