Two immigration agents have been placed on leave after appearing to make "untruthful statements" about an encounter in Minneapolis last month that authorities described as violent, 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.
"Lying under oath is a serious federal offense," he said.
The announcement came two days after a federal prosecutor in Minnesota sought to dismiss criminal charges against the men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.
A filing from the U.S. Attorney's Office cited newly discovered evidence that he says is “materially inconsistent” with preliminary hearing testimony and an affidavit filed Jan. 16 against Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna.
The motion sought to dismiss the charges with prejudice, indicating they cannot be refiled. A judge granted the request Friday.
A lawyer for Sosa-Celis called the government's motion "extraordinary" and said his client is relieved.
"Nevertheless, he is determined to seek justice and hold the ICE officer accountable for his unlawful conduct," said the lawyer, Robin Wolpert, in an email.
Sosa-Celis plans to cooperate with an investigation by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Wolpert said.
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.
"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’re being accused of a crime that they know they did not commit, and they’re listening to government evidence that is false."
Goetz said he expects Aljorna to fully cooperate in any and all ongoing investigations looking into the agents' actions.
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.
One of the men, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, was shot in the thigh during the Jan. 14 encounter, which occurred days after the fatal shooting of Renee Good and prompted protests and pleas for calm from officials in Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security provided an initial account of the incident in a news release. Some details in that account differ from those in the FBI agent’s 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 “targeted traffic stop” on a Venezuelan man who was in the country illegally.
The department said the man fled the stop and crashed into a parked car before he began “to resist and violently assault” 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’ account.
The man 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.
Three people fled into the apartment after the shooting, according to DHS.
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’t the person the vehicle was registered to, the agent wrote.
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.
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.
The agent drew his weapon and the men retreated to the apartment, according to the affidavit. The agent fired toward the men, striking Sosa-Celis in the upper thigh, it said.
The affidavit noted that the lighting in the area was not good and said the agent “had difficulty seeing the assailants” during the struggle. The affidavit states the second immigration agent saw the first in an altercation with only two males.
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.
Aljorna told authorities after his arrest that he bought the vehicle he was driving during the pursuit five months earlier but hadn’t transferred the ownership, according to the affidavit.
Wolpert, Sosa-Celis' lawyer, said that the FBI agent's account of the shooting — which was provided during a probable cause hearing — differed significantly from statements made by the two defendants and three eyewitnesses. According to the Associated Press, the witnesses' statements indicated that no third person was involved and no shovel or broom was used to attack the agent.
The Trump administration on Thursday announced it planned on ending its immigration surge in Minneapolis, weeks after the fatal shootings of Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement agents. The immigration crackdown and shootings drew widespread condemnation and calls for federal authorities to leave.
