A Hennepin County District Court has set $200,000 bond for ICE agent Christian Castro, the defendant in a Minneapolis shooting case that left Julio Sosa-Celis wounded in the leg. Castro, 52, was arrested Friday in Harlingen, Texas, and remains jailed there while he awaits extradition to Minnesota.
The bond order matters because it could determine whether Castro stays in custody in Texas or is released before he has to face arraignment in Minnesota. His lawyer, Salvador Garcia, said Castro could be freed if he posts bond, though he would still have to appear in Minnesota on his own for court.
Castro is charged with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. The charges stem from a Jan. 14 shooting in north Minneapolis, where Sosa-Celis was shot after fleeing a traffic stop by federal immigration agents and retreating to his home. Prosecutors say the four assault counts track four adult victims who were inside the house when the shooting happened.
The case has taken on added weight because federal officials initially defended the shooting as a defensive use of force. Video of the incident later contradicted that account, undercutting the original explanation and sharpening scrutiny of the agents involved. Castro and another agent were placed on leave while Homeland Security investigated whether they lied under oath.
A Homeland Security spokesperson called lying under oath “a serious federal offense” and described the charges against Castro as unlawful and “nothing more than a political stunt.” The U.S. Department of Justice later dropped charges against Sosa-Celis and a second man charged in the incident, leaving the focus on the agents and the shooting itself.
For Castro, the next step is simple but unresolved: post the bond, stay jailed in Texas, or make the move to Minnesota and face the case there. For the court, the bond decision has already set the terms of the fight that comes next.
