DOJ Fired Prosecutor, Blocked Assault Charges Against ICE Officer Following Minneapolis Shooting

from the nasty-people-protecting-nastier-people dept

Let’s start out with the obvious (and obviously heartbreaking): this is not related to the multiple times ICE officers have murdered people. Those officers still remain at large and the DOJ and DHS have shown absolutely zero interest in following up on those cases. In fact, when any local agency attempts to do so, they’re less-than-politely told to GTFO and then the FBI (or whoever) simply shoves any and all documentation into the nearest memory-hole.

This is about an officer who shot someone in Minneapolis, which makes him not all that special. That his shooting involved him firing through a closed door makes it remarkable, but only because an open door might have resulted in another murder. But even though it wasn’t a murder, the DHS put its spin on the incident, only to have its narrative disproven mere moments later:

In the immediate wake of the shooting of Mr. Sosa-Celis, federal officials defended the agents, saying they had been attacked with a broom and shovel. Kristi Noem, who was then the secretary of homeland security, described it as “an attempted murder of federal law enforcement.” Within days, Mr. Sosa-Celis and a housemate, Alfredo A. Aljorna, who was also from Venezuela and involved in the confrontation, were charged with federal felonies.

But aspects of the government’s account soon began to unravel. The charges against both men were dropped, and federal officials said they were instead investigating the agents. Video footage of the incident obtained by The New York Times did not show a sustained attack with a shovel and more broadly contradicted the agent’s claim of a roughly three-minute beating. 

Minnesota investigators did as much investigating as they could and Minnesota prosecutors secured an assault indictment against ICE office Christian Castro. The problem was that Castro was being held in Texas and its governor (Greg Abbott) was in no hurry to grant Minnesota’s extradition request. A court ruled in favor of Texas and Castro was released… only to get picked up on the separate (but far less serious) charge of filing false reports.

While this does mean Castro will face some charges in court (and still has to deal with the assault charge brought by Minnesota), the real ugliness beneath all these twists and turns is more of the same old bullshit from Trump’s completely compromised Department of Justice.

Castro was actually facing far more serious charges from the US government before DOJ officials got involved. He could have been facing severe civil rights charges (including assault), but he’s ultimately working for Trump, which means almost no anti-migrant (or anti-ICE protester) crime will ever result in criminal charges.

Over the “strongest possible” objections from the federal prosecutor handling the case, leaders at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., quashed plans to bring civil rights charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant and then lying about it.

Somehow, there are still a few prosecutors left in the Trump DOJ that are willing to actually pursue justice, rather than placate a president who firmly believes the DOJ exists solely to act as his personal weapon of retribution. This attorney tried to do the right thing:

Late on Tuesday, Matthew Evans, the assistant U.S. attorney in Minnesota in charge of the case, told lawyers for Sosa-Celis and other victims to prepare for Castro to be charged “only with False Statements,” according to an email that was reviewed by ProPublica. 

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“This is being directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney,” Evans wrote in a remarkably candid account of internal deliberations. “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough.” 

Evans probably knew this would be the last email he would write as a DOJ prosecutor. What everyone expected to happen happened shortly thereafter. For being honest about the end result and advocating for charges he clearly felt the ICE officer deserved, Evans was immediately kicked to the curb by his [cough] “superiors.”

A federal prosecutor in Minnesota who was investigating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer for possible civil rights crimes has been fired, four sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans was investigating ICE officer Christian Castro over the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant earlier this year. The Justice Department ultimately charged Castro this week with making false statements about the incident, but the indictment remains sealed…

Evans tried to secure more severe charges against ICE officer Christian Castro. That was strike one. That he told the victims of Castro’s crimes that his efforts had been overridden by DOJ officials was strike two. That’s an out, at least the way this administration counts balls and strikes. It probably would have preferred to punch him out on strike one, but Evans apparently moved faster than the forces of injustice.

Now that Evans has been fired for doing his job, the administration spin machine is whirring away again.

Three sources told CBS News that Evans is under investigation by the Justice Department. Two sources said the investigation focuses on allegations of leaking.

Hey, you don’t get to investigate him! You fired him! Leave him the fuck alone! I mean, if we’re going to play this game, then let’s re-open every investigation of any law enforcement officer (federal or otherwise) that was abandoned because the officer chose to quit, resign, or agree to be terminated rather than stick around until an investigation reached its conclusion. All this says is that the Trump and his DOJ loyalists want to keep punishing people they’ve already punished, or, if nothing else, stumble across something that might justify a vindictive firing after the fact.

This is all bullshit. The ICE officer is on the fast-track for a wrist slap. Meanwhile, the state that still wants Castro to face assault charges will have to wait around indefinitely for a clearly disinterested DOJ to go through the motions of “prosecuting” an officer it never wanted to prosecute.

Filed Under: christian castro, dhs, doj, ice, mass deportation, mat;thew evans, minneapolis, minnesota, police violence, trump administration