Todd Lyons, the performing head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused two federal brokers of mendacity underneath oath relating to the mid-January taking pictures of a Venezuelan nationwide in Minneapolis.
The 2 officers have been positioned on administrative depart and an inside investigation is underway, Lyons mentioned in his assertion.
“Video proof has revealed that sworn testimony supplied by two separate officers seems to have made untruthful statements. Each officers have been instantly positioned on administrative depart pending the completion of a radical inside investigation. Mendacity underneath oath is a severe federal offense,” Lyons mentioned. “The women and men of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of regulation. … Violations of this sacred sworn oath is not going to be tolerated.”
The announcement comes a day after the Division of Justice abruptly dropped costs towards Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who had been federally charged with assaulting ICE officers. The submitting entered by U.S. Lawyer in Minnesota Daniel Rosen cited “newly found proof” that was “materially inconsistent” with the costs towards them.
An ICE officer shot Sosa-Celis within the leg on Jan. 14 close to North Sixth Avenue and North twenty fourth Avenue, inciting anger in a metropolis the place only a week earlier than, an agent had shot and killed Renee Good.
Within the hours after the taking pictures of Sosa-Celis, two dueling narratives emerged. Cellphone video shared by Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade exhibits a girl calling 911 shortly after the taking pictures. The girl says her husband was chased by ICE brokers earlier than he reached his residence, and was shot in entrance of his household.
The Division of Homeland Safety, nevertheless, mentioned that Sosa-Celis fled and crashed right into a parked automobile, after which tried to flee on foot.
When an officer caught as much as him, Sosa-Celis “started to withstand and violently assault the officer,” the unique assertion says. In keeping with DHS, two different males then got here out of a close-by condominium and attacked the officer with a snow shovel and broom deal with. The officer feared for his life, the DHS mentioned, and “fired a defensive shot” at Sosa-Celis, who was hit within the leg.
The federal government’s account of the taking pictures has since modified; in an affidavit to help costs towards Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, the FBI mentioned that Aljorna — not Sosa-Celis — had fled the scene in a automobile. It goes on to say that Sosa-Celis was the one who initially struck the ICE officer with a brush stick whereas he tried to arrest Aljorna.
The FBI alleged that Aljorna then broke free and began attacking the ICE officer with the identical broomstick. The affidavit additionally says that the officer “had poor or sporadic lighting” and “had issue seeing the assailants.”
Lawyer Frederick Goetz, who represents Aljorna, mentioned, “It’s my understanding that the video surveillance proof that captured the incident was materially inconsistent with the federal agent’s claims of what occurred; i.e. the agent’s claims of being assaulted weren’t backed up by the video proof.”
Sosa-Celis’ lawyer Robin Wolpert mentioned “I’m glad to see that ICE and the DOJ are publicly acknowledging and investigating untruthful statements by the 2 ICE officers.”
Lyons mentioned that after ICE’s inside investigation, the 2 officers may face termination of employment.
