An ICE officer who sat in a Brownsville jail all summer now faces a federal charge.

Christian Castro, 52, is charged with lying to federal agents. He turned himself in Thursday, the AP reported. He is in federal custody now.

The case comes out of Minnesota. The charge is still sealed. So we do not know the exact words yet.

This is an update to a story El Tejano first ran on July 7. Castro is the same ICE agent the Texas Rangers picked up this spring. You can read that story here: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/ice-agent-arrested-in-texas-on-felony-charges-from-shooting/

It all goes back to January 14. ICE was running a big sweep in Minneapolis. They called it Operation Metro Surge.

Castro fired his gun through the closed front door of a home. It was in north Minneapolis. The bullet hit Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg. Sosa-Celis is from Venezuela. Other people were inside the house. El Tejano reported in July that the bullet went into a child's bedroom.

Castro told agents that Sosa-Celis and another man attacked an ICE officer. He said they used a broom handle and a snow shovel. The feds then charged both men.

Then video of what happened came out. It did not match what the officers said. The feds dropped the case against both men.

In May, the state charged Castro. The case was filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota. He faces four counts of second-degree assault with a gun. Each one is a felony. He also faces one count of falsely reporting a crime.

That is where the Valley comes in.

Texas Rangers arrested Castro on May 29. He was booked into the Cameron County jail in Brownsville.

He sat there for 90 days. Minnesota asked Texas to send him back north. Gov. Greg Abbott did not sign the warrant. His office pointed to fraud probes up in Minnesota. Those probes look at state aid money. Abbott also asked if Castro even counts as a fugitive.

A federal judge would not force Texas to hand him over. Texas law caps that kind of jail hold at 90 days. The clock ran out. The sheriff let Castro walk on August 27.

Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño said his hands were tied.

"His 90 days had already expired and he was not extradited, so by law, we had to release him," Treviño said.

The jail set no rules on Castro at all. "He does not have an ankle monitor or anything like that because that was not on us," Treviño said.

The sheriff pushed back on the politics too. "I just want people to understand that, like I had said earlier, we're not choosing sides here. We're doing what the law required us to do," he said.

One day later, Homeland Security took Castro off the job with no pay.

Todd Lyons is the acting head of ICE. He said his officers swear an oath. "Violations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated," Lyons said.

One top Homeland Security official was blunt. "Lying under oath is a serious federal offense," the official said.

The lawyer for Sosa-Celis says one charge is too soft. Robin Wolpert said the feds "grossly undercharged this case."

Wolpert said Castro's words were meant to "cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door."

"Mr. Sosa Celis wants Mr. Castro to be held fully accountable for his crimes," Wolpert said.

The case has shaken up the Justice Department too. Matthew Evans ran the case for the feds. He wanted civil rights charges. His bosses said no. Evans said he "objected in the strongest possible terms." Evans was later fired. The AP reported he is under a probe himself now.

Valley readers know this beat well. El Tejano has run ICE stops, ICE holds and ICE shootings all summer. This one flips the script. Here the cop is the one who got charged.

Castro's federal case now goes to a court in Minnesota. The state case up there is still open too. He has not gone to trial on any of it.

A charge is not proof. Everyone is innocent until a court says otherwise.