Ex-ice Agent Appears In Court After Detainment In Minneapolis

A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent made his first appearance in court Thursday after he was booked in the Hennepin County Jail the day prior.

Christian Castro was working with ICE when he was accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man, in Minneapolis on Jan. 14. Following the shooting, Castro was also accused of lying to investigators about what led to the shooting.

David Lindenmuth, an attorney representing Castro, said that his client was arrested while he was on his way to turn himself in.

“The local council had arranged to meet with our client and then go surrender him at an undisclosed location for his safety and privacy concerns,” Lindenmuth said. “Apparently some Minnesota law enforcement decided they didn’t like that idea and just went and stopped him against the agreement that we had. So that was … yeah, that was interesting.”

He said that he and his team of attorneys are currently seeking a pro hac vice, which would allow them to represent Castro in Minnesota pending permission from the Minnesota State Court and the Minnesota Federal Court.

Castro was taken into custody by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis.

He appeared before Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Judge Paul Scoggins who set Castro’s bond at $200,000 with conditions that included pre-signing a waiver of extradition, as well as surrendering his passport and wearing electronic home monitoring — both of which had already been ordered following his most recent federal court appearance.

Castro’s Minneapolis-based attorney Daniel Gerdts said that state prosecutors were concerned about his client fleeing the country due to calls he made to Mexico following his release from jail.

“I pointed out that he has family in Mexico, and it’s a nice place to visit,” Gerdts said. “There’s nothing wrong with talking to your relatives in Mexico. That doesn’t mean he’s a risk of flight. He would have waived extradition if anybody had directly asked him when he was in custody in Texas, but nobody did. When he got out, he didn’t flee.”

He said that a bondsman has already posted Castro’s bond and expects him to be released this afternoon.

Following Castro’s court appearance, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison held a news conference.

“The process of holding Mr. Castro accountable for his firing a weapon through the front door, striking Julio Sosa-Celis, endangering the lives of others, and lying to law enforcement has begun,” Moriarty said. “Despite the best efforts of the Texas governor to ignore both the United States Constitution and crystal clear Supreme Court precedent, here we are.”

He had been wanted in Minnesota since he was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime on May 18 in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

He was arrested in Cameron County on May 19 and held in the Cameron County Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center. On June 2, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz executed a governor’s requisition warrant in order to have Castro extradited.

After Gov. Greg Abbott failed to sign the governor’s rendition warrant, the state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Abbott and Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño to prevent his release after the 90-day limit on the detention of fugitives awaiting extradition expired.

A federal judge denied a temporary restraining order to keep Castro detained, and he was released from jail on Aug. 27.

Castro turned himself in to federal authorities on Sept. 3 and was released on bond the following day.

He is scheduled to appear in Minnesota Federal Court Friday morning at 8 a.m.

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