ICE agent charged in nonfatal shooting of Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis
The badge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen at the immigration court at the Ted Weiss Federal Building, May 12, 2026 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Minnesota prosecutors on Monday announced charges against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The federal agent, Christian Castro, was charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, according to the Hennepin County attorney.
“Mr. Castro fired his service weapon at the front door of the home, knowing there were people who had just run inside that presented absolutely no threat to him or anyone else,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a news conference Monday.
According to Moriarty, the bullet struck Sosa-Celis in the leg, passed through a closet and lodged in the wall of a child’s bedroom. She added that Castro was not under any physical threat when he opened fire and that claims from government officials that he had been struck with a shovel or broom were false.
“There is no such thing as absolute immunity for federal officers who commit crimes in this state or any other,” Moriarty said. “A violent crime did occur that night, but it was Mr. Castro who committed it.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
According to the criminal complaint, the confrontation began when Castro and other ICE agents chased a man who was delivering food for DoorDash back to his house.
The complaint states that security footage shows that Castro tackled the driver after he jumped out of his car and was running toward his home, which he shared with Sosa-Celis. Another resident then separated the two men and was able to get inside the house with the driver.
According to the complaint, video evidence shows Castro then fired a single gunshot through the closed front door and hit Sosa-Celis in the right leg.
Four adults and two children were inside the home at the time of the gunfire, the complaint states. Following the shooting, ICE agents deployed tear gas, breached the residence, and took the occupants into custody.
(NEW YORK) — A person was shot in an incident involving U.S. Border Patrol in Arivaca, Arizona, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson told ABC News.
The shooting occurred early Tuesday morning, the Santa Rita Fire District said. Emergency responders provided first aid at the scene and the person was taken to a hospital in unknown condition, officials said.
The FBI described the incident as “an alleged assault on a federal officer” and said “the subject was taken into custody.”
Pima County Sheriff spokesperson Angelica Carrillo said, “All we have to release at this, at this point, is that a U.S. Border Patrol agent was involved in a shooting here in Arivaca, and that the FBI Phoenix office has called the sheriff’s department to assist in this investigation.”
The sheriff’s office said it’s leading the use-of-force investigation involving the agent, at the request of the FBI.
“We ask the community to remain patient and understanding as this investigation moves forward,” the sheriff’s department said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are set to return to a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday for a status conference that could determine the trajectory of the criminal case against them.
Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to federal charges including narco-terrorism during their first appearance in court in January, and their attorneys have since pushed to have the case dismissed over concerns that the Trump administration is blocking the Venezuelan government from paying their legal fees.
For more than a decade, Maduro enjoyed an opulent life as Venezuela’s president, living in the neoclassical palace in Caracas and accruing a net worth reportedly in the millions. He allegedly owned multiple mansions, two private jets, millions in jewelry and cash, a horse farm, and a fleet of luxury vehicles.
But as he awaits trial in a Brooklyn jail cell, the ousted head of state is now pushing to have his case dismissed by arguing he doesn’t have enough money to pay for his own legal defense — and his lawyers argue his due process rights will be violated if Venezuela is unable to pay for his lawyers because of U.S. sanctions on the country.
“I understand that the government of Venezuela is prepared to fund my legal defense and it is my expectation that it will,” Maduro said in a sworn declaration. “I have relied on this expectation and cannot afford to pay for my own legal defense.”
As the Trump administration gradually warms relations with Venezuela, Thursday’s hearing marks the second time that the ousted Venezuelan leader has appeared in a United States courtroom since special operations forces captured him in Caracas in January.
During the status conference on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein is expected to hear from both sides about how the case will progress toward a trial, including what pre-trial motions the defense plans to make and how much evidence has been turned over by prosecutors.
In a move that triggered an international outcry, Maduro was captured and brought to the U.S. in January after the United States carried out what President Trump described as a “large scale strike” in the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro’s attorneys seek dismissal
Last month, attorneys for Maduro and Flores asked the court to dismiss the indictment after the Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OLFAC) restricted the ability for Venezuela to pay for their legal fees.
Defense lawyers argue that the couple’s Sixth Amendment and due process rights would be violated if Venezuela is unable to financially support Maduro, who Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez says is still “the legitimate president” of the country.
“The conduct of the United States government not only undermines Mr. Maduro’s rights but also this Court’s mandate to provide a fair trial to all defendants who come before it in accordance with the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution,” Maduro’s attorney Barry Pollack said in a motion last month.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have pushed back on the request, arguing that Maduro and Flores are still allowed to access their own money to pay for their legal defense. While the Treasury Department initially allowed Venezuela to pay for their legal defense, prosecutors said the authorization was an “administrative error” and denied that the decision to change the terms of their license was targeted.
“OFAC’s Longstanding sanctions regime predated the initiation of the criminal charges the defendants now face and was instituted for purposes completely separate from the criminal charges currently pending before this Court,” defense lawyers said. “The defendants’ attempts to portray OFAC’s sanctions as a targeted attack on the defendants and their rights are misleading and undermined by the facts and chronology of this case and OFAC’s independent decision-making.”
Defense attorneys expressed skepticism about that argument by highlighting that the Trump administration has recently issued multiple licenses to allow the export of Venezuelan oil and other goods despite the existing sanctions.
“There is no apparent reason why the use of Venezuelan funds to pay for the legal defense in this case jeopardizes national security and the government offers none,” defense attorneys said. “The national security emergency rationale that the government invokes, without explaining, has even less force now that the government has normalized relations with the government of Venezuela and recognized the current Venezuelan government.”
While the issue is fully briefed, the judge could opt to set a separate hearing on the motion.
‘I am innocent,” Maduro told the court
Maduro’s last appearance in federal court came just days after he was captured in Venezuela by U.S. special operations forces and transported to New York to face criminal charges.
After Judge Hellerstein summarized the charges against him, Maduro told the court through an interpreter that he is “the president of Venezuela” and that he was “captured at home in Caracas, Venezuela.”
“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said to enter his plea.
Flores similarly pleaded not guilty after being informed of the charges against her and her rights. Their attorneys did not ask for bail or their release, though Judge Hellerstein said he would be open to reviewing a bail application in the future. In the meantime, the former heads of state have been detained at the federal detention center in Brooklyn.
As he was escorted out of the courtroom, Maduro responded to a member of the public seated in court who shouted at him in Spanish to say in part, “You will pay in the name of Venezuela.”
“I am the elected president. I am a prisoner of war. I will be free,” Maduro responded.
Maduro’s defense?
During his arraignment in January, Maduro’s attorney signaled that they will likely argue that Maduro should be protected from prosecution as a head of state.
“He is the head of a sovereign state,” said Pollack, added that there are “issues about the legality of his military abduction.”
Maduro’s lawyers have not yet filed any motions based on that argument, instead focusing on concerns about his due process rights after the Treasury Department cut off Venezuela’ s ability to pay for Maduro’s legal defense.
According to ABC News Legal Contributor James Sample, Maduro’s lawyers could attempt to argue that he is protected by “head of state immunity,” which is a principle of international law that the leaders of other countries are shielded from the jurisdiction of other country’s criminal courts.
“They will be arguing that because he was the head of essentially a sister sovereign of another nation, and he was doing those things in that nation, that the United States courts lack the jurisdiction, which is simply to say the power to hold him criminally accountable,” Sample said. “Whether a U.S. court will embrace that defense or not is a different matter, but it is not a frivolous argument.”
Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, who was never elected president, unsuccessfully attempted to use head-of-state immunity when he was tried in the U.S. on drug smuggling charges in 1991, but a federal appeals court concluding he “never served as the constitutional leader of Panama.”
What prosecutors allege
The Department of Justice initially brought an indictment against Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials in March of 2020, arguing they committed narco-terrorism by conspiring with drug cartels to allow the flow of cocaine into the United States.
Nearly six years later, prosecutors filed a new indictment charging Maduro, Flores, Maduro’s son, and three others with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons offenses.
“Nicolas Maduro Moros, the defendant, now sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking,” the indictment said.
Prosecutors alleged that Maduro allowed “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit,” including by providing diplomatic cover to drug traffickers and money launderers. Maduro has pleaded not guilty and denies being involved in drug trafficking.
“[Maduro] is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States,” the indictment said.
Police did not name the suspect, but said the 31-year-old man surrendered to the Bellevue Police Department on Wednesday and has been booked into the King County Jail for investigation of murder.
The 19-year-old female victim was found stabbed to death in a laundry room in a housing building on campus Sunday night, police said.
UW President Robert J. Jones offered his condolences in a statement on Monday, saying, “There are no words that can express the profound loss of a student.”
Although police did not release a motive, Jones said, “I want to recognize that when violence affects a trans person it can be especially worrying to our LGBTQIA+ community members.”
“Our Division of Student Life is reaching out to students affected and providing support and resources to help them through this very difficult ordeal,” Jones said.
