Video released by the city of Minneapolis on Monday appears to contradict the Trump administration’s allegations in its criminal case against two Venezuelan immigrants who were accused of assaulting federal immigration officers in January.

Federal prosecutors dismissed the case in February and placed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers involved in the incident on leave, pending an investigation of whether the officers lied under oath.

The footage, captured by city-owned security cameras, appears to show the chain of events that led an ICE officer to shoot 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in his right thigh after chasing his housemate, 26-year-old Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, into their Minneapolis home on Jan. 14.

After the arrests, immigration enforcement officials described Sosa-Celis as a “violent criminal illegal alien” who was part of a group that attacked an officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle during an attempted arrest. The officer shot Sosa-Celis in the leg in self-defense, authorities said, apparently basing that account on reports from the ICE officers at the scene. The officers said the immigrants assaulted them with a shovel or broom handle.

But the 9-minute video does not appear to corroborate the ICE agents’ retelling of the events that led to the shooting. The footage depicts three men in a scuffle near the front steps of the home. The exact moment when the ICE agent shot Sosa-Celis is unclear in the video. It’s also unclear whether a shovel, broom handle or other object was used in the incident.

“The video makes it crystal clear that, just like in other situations during Operation Metro Surge, the federal government’s account of what happened simply does not match the facts,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement to MS NOW.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen dismissed the case against the Venezuelan immigrants in February, citing “newly discovered evidence” that was “materially inconsistent with the allegations” the federal government made in the criminal complaint. Evidence presented by federal prosecutors during a preliminary case hearing and in the FBI affidavit that accompanied the charges contradicted the ICE agents’ account of events.

Federal authorities placed the ICE agents on leave pending the results of an internal DHS investigation into whether the agents lied while testifying under oath.

“A joint review by ICE and the Department of Justice of video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements,” an ICE spokesperson told MS NOW on Tuesday.

The spokesperson said after the investigation concludes, “the officers may face termination of employment, as well as potential criminal prosecution.”

The city of Minneapolis publicly released the footage after The New York Times obtained it through a public records request. The Times reported that the prosecutors who filed the criminal charges did not watch the footage for weeks, despite having had access to the video within hours of the shooting. The Times cited the Minneapolis police chief and an official with knowledge of the matter.

The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed to MS NOW that the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had the video footage on the night the shooting took place. The BCA has a unit dedicated to investigating use-of-force incidents that was created in response to the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 in Minneapolis.

The Times’ reporting raises questions about why it took weeks for the federal government’s case against the two young men to unravel if prosecutors had the video footage at the time they filed charges.

Minnesota officials have repeatedly expressed frustration over the federal government’s refusal to share evidence and information related to the Trump administration’s deadly crackdown on immigration in the Twin Cities.

Bureau officials have accused the federal government of stonewalling their ability to investigate the shooting of Sosa-Celis and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Minnesota officials sued the administration in March to obtain evidence for the state investigation of the three shootings.

Sosa-Celis denied the government’s allegations in court in January, including the claim that he struck the ICE officer. A filing from Sosa-Celis’ lawyer says neither multiple witnesses nor surveillance footage supported the officer’s claim that he was struck by a broom or shovel or that Sosa-Celis had any physical contact with him at all.

According to that filing, Sosa-Celis “came to this country illegally to escape the violence and insecurity he faced in Venezuela” and was subsequently granted temporary protection status. He has a young son and most recently worked for DoorDash, according to the filing, which also noted he has no prior convictions for violent offenses.

Attorneys for Sosa-Celis and Alejandro Aljorna did not immediately return MS NOW’s request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis declined to comment on the release of the video footage because the shooting incident is under investigation.

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