A Mexican man was severely beaten by immigration officers in a parking lot during the Trump administration's immigration operations in Minnesota, suffering multiple skull fractures that left him in the intensive care unit at a Minneapolis hospital.
Weeks after the incident, state and federal authorities are investigating the case, with members of the St. Paul Police Department and the FBI canvassing the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton.
In a report published by The Associated Press, hospital staff who treated Castañeda Mondragón said his injuries did not match ICE's account, which blamed him for his own injuries, claiming he tried to flee while handcuffed and "fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."
Castañeda Mondragón said that ICE officers threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, punched him and struck his head with a steel baton. A CT scan later showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull, injuries doctors told the Associated Press were inconsistent with a fall.
He said he was then dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he was beaten again. He was later transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he was treated for eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
In multiple visits to the shopping center where Castañeda Mondragón was arrested, investigators requested surveillance footage from at least two businesses. The Associated Press reported that store employees said their cameras either did not capture the incident or the footage had been overwritten because more than a month passed before law enforcement requested the video.
The outlet also reported that the Department of Homeland Security declined to any answer questions, including whether officers recorded body-worn camera footage of the arrest.Since the Jan. 8 incident, the agency has repeatedly said the 31-year-old man was targeted for removal for overstaying his visa and that while attempting to escape custody he "ran toward a main highway" and "fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."
Earlier this month, the Associated Press published an interview with Castañeda Mondragón in which he said the arresting officers were "racist" and "started beating me right away when they arrested me." He has been ordered to report to ICE on Feb. 23, raising concerns he could be taken back into custody and face removal.
"It is my expectation that we will investigate past and future allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents to seek the truth and hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law," John Choi, the chief prosecutor of Ramsey County, said in a statement.
Protests and a series of violent incidents involving federal immigration agents prompted White House border czar Tom Homan to announce an end to operations in Minnesota last week, although multiple reports noted that some federal agents have remained in the state.
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