(Adnkronos) – Charges have been dropped against the Venezuelan immigrants who, according to the reconstruction provided by federal prosecutors, had assaulted an ICE agent last January in Minneapolis, who then opened fire, wounding one of the two men in the leg. In a surprise move, the Justice Department stated that prosecutors had provided incorrect information to the court, while ICE released a statement admitting that its agents made “false statements” under oath.
Overturning the prosecution’s case, the Justice Department stated, was “the discovery of new evidence,” which, CNN reports today, is a video showing a dynamic of the events of January 15, one week after the killing of Renee Good by anti-immigrant police agents, very different from that reported by ICE agents.
According to the new reconstruction, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna had been followed by ICE agents at the end of his work shift and, upon arriving home, one had attempted to block him. The man managed to break free and run towards the front door: as he tried to close it, an agent opened fire, wounding his cousin Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg.
“This is an absolutely unreasonable use of force, and the agent fabricated false charges against my client to justify it,” said Alijorna’s lawyer. Now, the two federal agents, who have been suspended from duty, are under investigation by the Justice Department, ICE Director Todd Lyons further admitted, adding that the two could be fired and indicted.
In reality, the false version of events provided by two federal agents, which reported that Sosa-Celis, not Alijorna, had been stopped at a checkpoint and, in an attempt to escape, had crashed the car and fled on foot, had been immediately supported by the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Kristi Noem, the same person who had rushed to call Good “a domestic terrorist,” had described the actions of the two immigrants as “an attempted murder of law enforcement officers.”
“It’s shocking how the Department of Homeland Security continues to make immediate and peremptory statements about facts that are then quickly refuted by real evidence,” commented CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, recalling the case of Goode and Alex Pretti, and that of Marimar Martinez, accused in Chicago of trying to run over an ICE car before agents shot her. Charges that were later dismissed by a judge who denounced the “omissions” in the reconstruction provided by federal agents.
