{"id":5985,"date":"2026-02-13T17:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985"},"modified":"2026-02-13T17:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:12:31","slug":"2-federal-agents-placed-on-leave-after-appearing-to-make-untruthful-statements-about-violent-encounter-in-minneapolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985","title":{"rendered":"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make ‘untruthful’ statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The move came after a federal prosecutor cited newly discovered evidence that he says is “materially inconsistent” with an FBI affidavit and court testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n



Two immigration agents have been placed on leave after appearing to make “untruthful statements” about\u00a0an encounter in Minneapolis last month that authorities described as violent<\/a>, a federal official said Friday.

In a statement, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons said the agents could be fired and criminally charged after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota completes an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came two days after a federal prosecutor in Minnesota sought to dismiss criminal charges against two men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men, who are both from Venezuela, had been accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom handle and snow shovel. Sosa-Celis was shot in the thigh during the Jan. 14 encounter, which occurred days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good<\/a> and prompted protests and pleas for calm from officials in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office cited newly discovered evidence that he says is \u201cmaterially inconsistent\u201d with preliminary hearing testimony and an affidavit filed Jan. 16 against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motion sought to dismiss the charges with prejudice, indicating they cannot be refiled. A judge granted the request Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lawyer for Sosa-Celis, Robin Wolpert, called the government’s motion “extraordinary” and said his client is relieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nevertheless, he is determined to seek justice and hold the ICE officer accountable for his unlawful conduct,” Wolpert said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sosa-Celis plans to cooperate with an investigation by the Hennepin County Attorney\u2019s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Wolpert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frederick Goetz, an attorney for Aljorna, told NBC News in a phone call Friday that his client “is absolutely delighted” by the dismissal of the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are really encouraged that the government had the courage to do the right thing,” Goetz said. “One can only imagine how someone feels when they\u2019re being accused of a crime that they know they did not commit, and they\u2019re listening to government evidence that is false.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goetz said he expects Aljorna to fully cooperate in any and all ongoing investigations looking into the agents’ actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities did not provide additional details about the agents’ apparently false statements. The affidavit cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office was authored by an FBI agent and accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of aiding and abetting to forcibly assault and impede a federal law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Homeland Security provided an initial account of the incident in a\u00a0news release<\/a>. Some details in that account differ from those in the FBI agent\u2019s affidavit, including who was shot and how many people were involved in the alleged attack on the officer.

According to DHS, federal law enforcement officers were conducting a \u201ctargeted traffic stop\u201d on a Venezuelan man who was in the country illegally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department said the man fled the stop and crashed into a parked car before he began \u201cto resist and violently assault\u201d an officer. During that struggle, two people emerged from a nearby apartment and began attacking the officer with a snow shovel and broom handle, according to DHS\u2019 account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the men was shot when he broke loose and hit the agent with a shovel or a broomstick, according to DHS, which did not identify any of the alleged assailants in the initial release. The release described the gunfire as defensive and said the agent feared for his life when he opened fire.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three people fled into the apartment after the shooting, according to DHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the affidavit, the FBI agent wrote that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ran a license plate that came back to a person in the U.S. without authorization. The driver of that vehicle fled, but it wasn\u2019t the person the vehicle was registered to, the agent wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aljorna was later determined to be the driver and the agents pursued his vehicle. After it crashed, one agent chased Aljorna as he fled toward a nearby apartment where Sosa-Celis was standing outside, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a struggle between Aljorna and the agent, Sosa-Celis struck the officer with a broomstick, the affidavit alleges. The agent saw what he believed to be a third man who struck the agent with a snow shovel, the affidavit alleges, and Aljorna hit the agent with the broomstick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agent drew his weapon and the men retreated to the apartment, according to the affidavit. He fired toward the men, striking Sosa-Celis in the upper thigh, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affidavit noted that the lighting in the area was not good and said the agent \u201chad difficulty seeing the assailants\u201d during the struggle. The affidavit states the second immigration agent saw the first in an altercation with only two males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sosa-Celis told the FBI he had a snow shovel but denied using it, according to the affidavit. Aljorna said he grabbed a broom and threw it toward the officer when he was running into the apartment, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aljorna told authorities after his arrest that he bought the vehicle he was driving when he was stopped five months earlier but hadn\u2019t transferred the ownership, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration on Thursday announced it planned on ending its immigration surge<\/a> in Minneapolis, weeks after the fatal shootings of Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a> by immigration enforcement agents<\/a>. The immigration crackdown and shootings drew widespread condemnation and calls for federal authorities to leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reposted from NBC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The move came after a federal prosecutor cited newly di […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1323,4840,4594],"class_list":["post-5985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-after","tag-agents","tag-federal"],"yoast_head":"\n2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The move came after a federal prosecutor cited newly di […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T01:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-14T01:12:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1238\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"623\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CrapeMyrtle888\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 \u5206\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"abovecloud\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png\",\"width\":1238,\"height\":623},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985\",\"name\":\"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-14T01:12:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-14T01:12:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/96ebd2d6dfd45e6b12ba731340efc174\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make ‘untruthful’ statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/96ebd2d6dfd45e6b12ba731340efc174\",\"name\":\"CrapeMyrtle888\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ba8c6340f49e5053ee1d42c8f9b249987b4ccead633b2c0b701144523def435?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ba8c6340f49e5053ee1d42c8f9b249987b4ccead633b2c0b701144523def435?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CrapeMyrtle888\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?author=5\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985","og_locale":"zh_CN","og_type":"article","og_title":"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud","og_description":"The move came after a federal prosecutor cited newly di […]","og_url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985","og_site_name":"abovecloud","article_published_time":"2026-02-14T01:12:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-14T01:12:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1238,"height":623,"url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u4f5c\u8005":"CrapeMyrtle888","\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4":"5 \u5206"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/","name":"abovecloud","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"zh-Hans"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-Hans","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-15.png","width":1238,"height":623},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#webpage","url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985","name":"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make 'untruthful' statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis - abovecloud","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2026-02-14T01:12:11+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-14T01:12:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/96ebd2d6dfd45e6b12ba731340efc174"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"zh-Hans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5985#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9875","item":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2 federal agents placed on leave after appearing to make ‘untruthful’ statements about violent encounter in Minneapolis"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/96ebd2d6dfd45e6b12ba731340efc174","name":"CrapeMyrtle888","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-Hans","@id":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ba8c6340f49e5053ee1d42c8f9b249987b4ccead633b2c0b701144523def435?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ba8c6340f49e5053ee1d42c8f9b249987b4ccead633b2c0b701144523def435?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"CrapeMyrtle888"},"url":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?author=5"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5987,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions\/5987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}