Minnesota Prosecutor Fired While Probing ICE Officer in Immigrant Shooting Case

The story of a federal prosecutor fired amid an ICE investigation in Minnesota has surfaced through four separate sources speaking to CBS News, and it raises uncomfortable questions about how the Justice Department handled a case against one of its own enforcement officers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans had been building a civil rights case against ICE officer Christian Castro over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in January. Evans no longer has his job. Castro, meanwhile, was indicted this week — but on a substantially narrower charge than the one Evans had been pursuing.

The Charge That Was Filed, and the One That Wasn’t

A federal grand jury handed up a six-count indictment against Castro on Wednesday, according to multiple people familiar with the proceedings. The indictment stays under seal for now. He was arrested in Texas on Thursday and appeared in court the following day.

The counts center on making false statements about the incident. That is a meaningfully lighter exposure than what Evans had reportedly wanted: charges alleging that Castro deprived people of their constitutional rights while acting under color of law, a category of offense that carries far stiffer consequences.

An Email That Broke the Story Open

ProPublica reported earlier in the week that Evans had warned lawyers for the shooting victim and others to brace for the reduced charge. The outlet quoted from correspondence it said Evans sent to those attorneys, in which he described the decision as coming down from Justice Department headquarters and the U.S. attorney’s office, and said his objections had been forceful but unsuccessful.

CBS News has not independently reviewed that email.

Three sources said Evans is now the subject of a Justice Department internal investigation. Two of them indicated the inquiry centers on allegations that he leaked information.

What Happened in January

The underlying incident occurred during an intensified federal immigration operation in the Minneapolis area. Castro shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who officials say lacks legal status, in the leg.

In the immediate aftermath, prosecutors charged Sosa-Celis and another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, with assaulting or obstructing federal officers. Those charges did not survive.

An Official Account That Kept Changing

The government’s version of events shifted repeatedly, and the discrepancies are hard to reconcile.

The first version, from DHS: Sosa-Celis ran from a traffic stop. When an ICE agent moved to arrest him, two other men attacked with a shovel and a broomstick. Sosa-Celis then joined in, and the agent fired what the department described as a defensive shot to protect his own life.

The version in the FBI affidavit: It was Aljorna, not Sosa-Celis, who fled the traffic stop. Sosa-Celis struck the agent with a broomstick while the agent was attempting to detain Aljorna. The agent characterized the confrontation as lasting roughly three minutes.

What the video showed: Cellphone footage circulated by a Democratic state senator captured a woman on a 911 call saying her husband had been pursued by ICE agents to his own home and shot in front of his family. Separate video later published by The New York Times indicated the altercation was dramatically shorter than three minutes.

The Case Against the Immigrants Collapsed

One month after filing, the Justice Department abandoned the prosecution of Aljorna and Sosa-Celis. In doing so, it acknowledged that newly surfaced evidence was materially at odds with what had been alleged.

Todd Lyons, then heading ICE, went further. He said reviewing the video established that two of the agency’s officers had given untruthful sworn testimony. Both were placed on administrative leave, and Lyons noted prosecution remained possible.

That is an unusual public admission for a federal enforcement agency to make about its own personnel.

A Detour Through Texas

Castro’s legal troubles did not begin with this week’s federal indictment. Minnesota charged him in May with assault and falsely reporting a crime. He was picked up in Texas.

Then extradition stalled. Texas Governor Greg Abbott declined to hand him over to Minnesota authorities, triggering a legal fight that ended with a Texas jail releasing him last week. Days later, the federal indictment arrived.

Why the Distinction Between Charges Matters

The gap between a false statements case and a civil rights case under color of law is not a technicality.

• False statements target what an officer said after the fact. The offense is the lie, not the underlying conduct.
• Color of law violations target the conduct itself — the alleged use of official authority to deprive someone of constitutional protections. Penalties escalate sharply when serious bodily injury is involved.

Prosecuting the first while declining the second means the shooting itself, as a potential federal civil rights offense, goes unaddressed in court.

The Questions Left Hanging

Several threads remain unresolved:

Who made the call, and on what basis? If the decision to narrow the charges came from Washington rather than the Minnesota office, the reasoning behind it has not been made public.

What is the leak investigation actually about? Evans is reportedly under scrutiny for disclosing information. Whether that inquiry preceded or followed his internal objections is not clear from the available reporting.

What is in the sealed indictment? Six counts is more than a single false statement charge would ordinarily require. The specifics will not be known until a judge unseals the document.

Will the second officer face anything? Lyons referenced two ICE officers giving untruthful testimony. Only Castro has been publicly charged.

Where This Stands

Castro faces federal charges. Evans is out of a job and under investigation. The men originally accused of assaulting officers were cleared when the evidence contradicted the government’s account.

For the moment, the most serious allegations arising from a January shooting in Minneapolis are not before any court.