By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department has moved to drop charges against two men charged with assaulting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis in January after an officer shot a Venezuelan immigrant, a court document showed on Thursday.
The top federal prosecutor in Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, asked a judge to dismiss the charges, writing that “newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations.” Rosen sought the dismissal with prejudice, which means the charges cannot be reintroduced.
The shooting that wounded the Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, came during President Donald Trump’s widely condemned surge of immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Trump’s immigration crackdown, said in January officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop on Sosa-Celis when he sped away, crashed his car and fled on foot.
DHS said at the time that Sosa-Celis and two other men hit an ICE officer who pursued him with a snow shovel and broom handle, prompting the shooting.
But court documents unsealed later told a different story.
An FBI affidavit said the ICE officers had scanned a license plate registered to a different person suspected of an immigration violation, leading them to chase the wrong person.
The affidavit said another man was driving the car and was the sole occupant – not Sosa-Celis. The car’s actual driver – another Venezuelan immigrant – crashed and fled to an apartment building where Sosa-Celis was present, it said.
At the building, an ICE officer trying to detain the driver was struck by him and Sosa-Celis with a broom, while a third man used a shovel – before the officer fired.
While DHS said initially that the officer “fired a defensive shot to defend his life”, the FBI affidavit said the alleged attackers dropped the broom and shovel when they saw the officer draw his gun and were fleeing as he fired.
The Trump administration’s use of armed federal immigration agents has led to nationwide protests, especially after last month’s fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
Rights advocates say Trump’s actions have made the environment unsafe for citizens and immigrants and violate due process protections. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said Trump has agreed to end his deportation surge in Minnesota.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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