Federal authorities announced an investigation into two immigration officers after video evidence raised questions about whether the officers made untruthful statements under oath in connection with a Minneapolis shooting last month. The announcement came Friday, hours after a federal judge dismissed felony assault charges in a separate Minneapolis case, with prosecutors saying new video contradicted allegations in the criminal complaint.
The renewed scrutiny builds on a pattern in which officials’ early descriptions of immigration-enforcement shootings were later contradicted by video or other evidence presented in court. In multiple incidents described by the Associated Press, federal spokespeople initially characterized the shootings as defensive responses to threats, while later footage and testimony complicated those accounts.
Federal prosecutors also sought dismissal in the case that recently drew the judge’s ruling. Prosecutors said new video evidence contradicted allegations against two Venezuelan men accused of beating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel on Jan. 14. According to the charging account, the officer—unnamed in court filings—fired a single shot from a handgun that struck one of the men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in the thigh.
The Jan. 14 case is one of at least five shootings in which officials’ initial descriptions were later challenged by video evidence. In the Minneapolis incident involving Sosa-Celis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem initially said the ICE officer was “ambushed” by Sosa-Celis and others and fired a “defensive shot” out of fear for his life. She also said the incident amounted to an attempted murder of federal law enforcement.
In court, prosecutors and defendants pointed to discrepancies before the dismissal. The Associated Press reported that investigators had not released the specific new evidence that led to dropping the charges, but that “cracks were already apparent” in a Jan. 21 court hearing, where the immigration officer’s testimony about what happened before the shooting differed significantly from that of the defendants and three eyewitnesses. The reported available video evidence did not support the officer’s account of being assaulted with a broom and shovel.
In another Minneapolis fatal shooting, involving Renee Good, Noem initially described the episode as an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers carried out by Good. Noem said Good “attempted to run them over” and “rammed them with her vehicle,” and she said the immigration agent shot “defensively” to protect himself and others nearby. Good died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Later video evidence from multiple angles challenged the earlier federal narrative. The Associated Press reported that shortly before the shooting, Good is seen at the wheel of her SUV, parked diagonally on a street, and telling an immigration officer, “I’m not mad at you.” Seconds later, the report said another immigration officer grabs at the driver’s side door while Good’s wife urges her to “drive, baby, drive.” The Associated Press said it was unclear in the videos if the SUV makes contact with ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who shoots in front of the vehicle and then twice more as the SUV pulls forward and moves quickly toward the driver’s side.
In a separate Minneapolis fatal shooting, federal officials described Alex Pretti’s death as the result of an attempted attack and “violent” resistance. The Associated Press reported that a Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said Pretti approached Border Patrol officers with a handgun and “violently resisted” as they tried to disarm him, and that an agent fired defensive shots out of fear for his life. McLaughlin said Pretti was pronounced dead at the scene, while Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino said Pretti intended to “massacre law enforcement,” and Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller described him as “a would-be assassin.”
Later video evidence contradicted elements of those initial descriptions, according to the Associated Press. The report said none of the bystander videos investigators collected showed Pretti brandishing his gun, despite a permit to carry. The videos, the report said, showed Pretti holding his mobile phone as a masked Border Patrol officer opened fire.
The AP also described how the dispute played out in a hearing in Washington in which Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul reviewed video. During the Thursday hearing, Paul made leaders tasked with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda watch the shooting video while he repeatedly questioned the tactics used by immigration agents. Paul argued Pretti posed no threat to the agents and said it was clear from the video that he was “retreating at every moment.”
The Associated Press also described similar challenges in cases outside Minnesota. In the suburban Chicago fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González on Sept. 12, 2025, federal officials initially said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who entered the country illegally. DHS said Villegas González drove at officers and dragged one with his car, and that the officer fired because he feared for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.”
Later evidence, the Associated Press reported, contradicted that account. The report said body camera videos from local police showed the agent who shot Villegas González walking around afterward and dismissing his own injuries as “nothing major.” It also said an autopsy made public in November declared Villegas González’s death a homicide, with wounds described in the report as shot at “close range,” including injuries to his neck and fingers.
In the Chicago case involving Marimar Martinez, which occurred Oct. 14, 2025, a DHS news release initially characterized Martinez and the driver of another car involved in a crash with a Border Patrol officer as “domestic terrorists.” The Associated Press said an FBI agent in court documents wrote that Martinez was chasing the Border Patrol vehicle and drove at one of the officers after they got out of the vehicle, and that an officer opened fire, striking Martinez seven times. The report said she was treated at a hospital and arrested on felony assault charges.
Later developments in the Martinez case also involved video disputes. The Associated Press reported that videos emerged that Martinez’s attorneys said showed an officer, Charles Exum, steering his SUV into her truck. The Associated Press said the case against her was dismissed after a Nov. 5 hearing in which, according to the report, Exum appeared to brag about his marksmanship in a text message: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” the text read.