{"id":2520,"date":"2026-02-14T00:49:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:49:34","slug":"us-officials-investigate-whether-ice-agents-lied-about-minneapolis-shooting-ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=2520","title":{"rendered":"US officials investigate whether ICE agents lied about Minneapolis shooting | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis<\/a> last month, as all charges were dropped against two Venezuelan men.<\/p>\n

ICE director Todd Lyons said on Friday that his agency opened a joint investigation with the justice department after video evidence revealed \u201csworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements\u201d about the shooting of one of the Venezuelan men during the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown across the Minneapolis area.<\/p>\n

The officers, who were not named, are on administrative leave while the investigation is carried out, he said. Lyons said the two ICE officers could be fired and face criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cLying under oath is a serious federal offense,\u201d said Lyons, adding that the US attorney\u2019s office is actively investigating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated. ICE remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and the fair enforcement of our nation\u2019s immigration laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Friday, US district court Judge Paul A Magnuson dismissed felony assault charges against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who were accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel during a January fracas. The officer fired a single shot from his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis in his right thigh.<\/p>\n

The cases were dropped after a highly unusual motion to dismiss from US attorney for the district of Minnesota<\/a> Daniel N Rosen, who said \u201cnewly discovered evidence\u201d was \u201cmaterially inconsistent with the allegations\u201d made against the two men in a criminal complaint and at a hearing last month.<\/p>\n

The reversal follows a string of high-profile shootings involving federal immigration agents in which eyewitness statements and video evidence have called into question claims made to justify using deadly force. Dozens of felony cases against protesters accused of assaulting or impeding federal officers have also crumbled.<\/p>\n

The immigration lawyer representing Aljorna and Sosa-Celis said they are \u201coverjoyed\u201d that all charges have been dismissed. Had they been convicted, the two immigrants would have faced years in federal prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe charges against them were based on lies by an ICE agent who recklessly shot into their home through a closed door,\u201d said attorney Brian D Clark. \u201cThey are so happy justice is being served.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether the men could still be deported.<\/p>\n

Last month, an FBI investigator said in a now-discredited court affidavit that ICE officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Aljorna on 14 January. He crashed the vehicle and fled on foot toward the apartment duplex where he lived. An immigration officer chased Aljorna who \u2013 according to the government \u2013 violently resisted arrest.<\/p>\n

The complaint alleged Sosa-Celis and another man attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle as the officer and Aljorna struggled on the ground. The officer, who is not named in court filings, fired his handgun, striking Sosa-Celis. The men ran into an apartment and eventually were arrested.<\/p>\n

After the shooting, Kristi Noem attacked Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, accusing the Democrats of \u201cencouraging impeding and assault against our law enforcement which is a federal crime, a felony\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement,\u201d Noem said in a 15 January statement. \u201cOur officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond on Friday to questions about whether Noem stands by those statements, which ICE \u2013 part of DHS \u2013 now admits were false.<\/p>\n

Robin M Wolpert, a defense attorney for Sosa-Celis in the criminal case, said she was pleased ICE and the justice department are publicly acknowledging and investigating untruthful statements by the two ICE officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese untruthful statements had serious consequences for my client and his family,\u201d Wolpert said. \u201cMy client is a crime victim.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis last month, as all charges were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}