When ICE Agents Lie: DOJ Drops Charges Against 2 Minneapolis Men Falsely Accused of Attempted Murder

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Two ICE officers have been placed on administrative leave and are accused of lying under oath about an incident in Minneapolis last month involving two Venezuelan immigrants, one of whom was shot in the leg by an agent. After the incident, the two Venezuelan men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, were charged with felony assault, falsely accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom and snow shovel. Sosa-Celis was shot in the right thigh. While the Department of Homeland Security originally claimed the men had attacked the agent in an act of "attempted murder," video evidence and witness testimonies contradicted the accusations. Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis last week dropped the felony assault charges against Aljorna and Sosa-Celis.

Criminal defense attorney Frederick Goetz, who represents Aljorna, says the admission of wrongdoing is "unusual" given that the Justice Department has been zealous in carrying out President Trump's anti-immigration agenda. It was "not only a dismissal, but a dismissal with prejudice, meaning that my client can never be charged again for anything to do with this incident," says Goetz.

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