Minneapolis video refutes ICE account of shooting

What happened

Minneapolis officials on Monday released footage from a city-owned security camera that seemingly contradicted the federal government’s initial account of an ICE agent’s nonfatal shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The Justice Department dropped its felony charges against Sosa-Celis and his roommate Alfredo Aljorna in mid-February. But the “federal government had access to that video within hours of the shooting,” said The New York Times, which first obtained the footage, raising “questions about why it took weeks for the government’s case to fall apart.”

Who said what

The Department of Homeland Security’s initial statement said Sosa-Celis and Aljorna beat the ICE agent “with a shovel or broom” for about three minutes before the officer “fired a defensive shot to save his life.” But the video initially shows Sosa-Celis tossing the shovel aside as the encounter begins. The video then appears to show the agent tackling Aljorna outside their home, scuffling with him for 12 seconds, then firing through the front door after the migrants escape inside, wounding Sosa-Celis in the thigh.

When U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen moved to drop all charges, DHS said that “sworn testimony” from two officers appeared to contain “untruthful statements.” Federal prosecutors had “felt urgency to file charges” and didn’t watch the video until “almost three weeks” after charging Sosa-Celis and Aljorna, the Times said, citing a Justice Department official. Both spent weeks in jail and their girlfriends were sent to a detention center in Texas.

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What next?

ICE said Monday that federal prosecutors are “actively investigating” the “false statements” made by the agents, who “may face termination of employment, as well as potential criminal prosecution.”