Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans was fired in Minnesota after investigating Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro for possible civil rights crimes during a January shooting. The case involves conflicting accounts of the incident and a sealed federal indictment against Castro, according to multiple reporting sources.
A federal prosecutor in Minnesota who investigated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer for possible civil rights crimes has been dismissed from his position, according to four sources familiar with the matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans focused his inquiry on ICE officer Christian Castro following the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant earlier this year in the Minneapolis area.
The Investigation Into Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans
Sources familiar with the personnel action state that Evans is currently under investigation by the Justice Department. Three sources told CBS News that Evans is under investigation by the Justice Department, with two sources saying the investigation focuses on allegations of leaking.
Prior to his firing, ProPublica reported that Evans told attorneys for the man who was shot, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and other victims to prepare for Castro to only be charged with making false statements. Such charges would carry lesser penalties than criminal charges that he violated people’s constitutional rights under color of law.
“This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney,” the email from Evans reportedly said. “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans
While CBS News has not obtained the email reviewed by ProPublica, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against Castro on Wednesday, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. He was taken into custody in Texas on Thursday and will make an initial court appearance Friday, a source said. The Justice Department ultimately charged Castro this week with making false statements about the incident, but the indictment remains sealed, CBS News has previously reported.
Shifting Accounts of the January Shooting in Minneapolis
The case revolves around a January incident involving Castro and Sosa-Celis, who officials say is in the U.S. illegally, during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area. After Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, federal prosecutors charged him and one other man — Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna — with forcibly assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.
However, the federal government’s description of the leadup to the shooting has shifted, and ICE later accused its agents of lying about the incident. Initially, the Department of Homeland Security said Sosa-Celis fled a traffic stop on foot, and when an ICE agent tried to arrest him, two other men attacked the agent with a shovel and a broomstick. DHS said Sosa-Celis then broke free and started attacking the agent, too, leading the agent to fire a defensive shot to defend his life.
An FBI affidavit filed in the criminal case against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna alleged Aljorna, not Sosa-Celis, was the one who fled a traffic stop, and said Sosa-Celis had initially struck the ICE agent with a broomstick while the agent tried to arrest Aljorna. The agent described it as a three-minute-long tussle, according to the affidavit.
Cellphone video shared by a Democratic state senator also showed a woman telling 911 her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family. And a video later released by The New York Times showed the altercation involving Aljorna and Sosa-Celis lasted far less than three minutes.
Dropped Charges and State-Level Fallout for Officer Christian Castro
A month after Aljorna and Sosa-Celis were charged, the Justice Department dropped the case and said newly discovered evidence
was materially inconsistent
with the allegations against them.
Todd Lyons, who led ICE at the time, said a review of video evidence showed two ICE officers had made untruthful statements
in sworn testimony. He said the officers would be placed on administrative leave and could face prosecution.
Castro, the ICE agent who shot Sosa-Celis, was charged in May on state charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime, and was arrested in Texas. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to extradite him to Minnesota, prompting a legal battle that ended with a Texas jail releasing Castro last week.
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