The police in St. Paul, Minn., say they are investigating an immigration arrest last month that left a man with a fractured skull and bleeding in his brain. Immigration agents have claimed the injuries were a result of the man running into a wall, but he has said that the agents beat him.
The arrest of Alberto Castañeda Mondragón on Jan. 8 left him with severe head injuries, according to a federal judge, who concluded that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents had “largely refused to provide information” about how Mr. Castañeda Mondragón had been injured. The judge, Donovan W. Frank, who ordered Mr. Castañeda Mondragón to be freed from detention last month, said in his ruling that the agents had suggested that the injured man ran headfirst into a brick wall.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond to requests for comment.
Tensions have been high for weeks between local and federal law enforcement agencies over the behavior of immigration agents during the Trump administration’s surge in the Twin Cities region. Federal prosecutors say they are investigating false statements by agents about the circumstances of a nonfatal shooting of a man in Minneapolis, and the Justice Department’s civil rights division is investigating the fatal shooting by agents of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen who was a nurse. And after Renee Good, another U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by an agent, federal officials refused to provide evidence to state investigators.
In Mr. Castañeda Mondragón’s case, The Associated Press reported last month that hospital employees quickly doubted descriptions by ICE agents about how he had gotten hurt, and this week reported that the F.B.I. was investigating the arrest, as were the St. Paul police. A spokeswoman for the Minneapolis field office of the F.B.I. did not respond to requests for comment.
John J. Choi, the prosecutor in Ramsey County, which includes St. Paul, has said that he expects to investigate “allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents” and would “hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law.”
Mr. Castañeda Mondragón’s lawyers said in a statement that they were aware of “ongoing investigations” and that they “trust that the authorities will fully investigate” what had caused his injuries.
Mr. Castañeda Mondragón, who is from Mexico, entered the country legally in March 2022 on a temporary work visa, court records say.
Judge Frank ordered Mr. Castañeda Mondragón’s release from ICE custody after he was held for 15 days, with an agent monitoring him from his hospital bed as he recovered from the head injury. The judge, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, said the detention was unlawful because agents did not have at the time a warrant or reasonable suspicion to believe that Mr. Castañeda Mondragón was in the country illegally.
In an interview, Mr. Castañeda Mondragón told The A.P.that he was in a friend’s car at a St. Paul shopping center when immigration agents pulled him from the car, threw him to the ground, handcuffed him and beat him with their fists and a baton. He was so injured and disoriented from the beating, he said, that he did not remember that he had a 10-year-old daughter.
His condition declined to the point where he struggled to communicate with hospital staff members, according to the judge’s order. Eventually, he improved and was released from the hospital on Jan. 27.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports for The Times on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice.
The post Police Investigate ICE Arrest of a Man Who Suffered Severe Head Injuries appeared first on New York Times.
