Two ICE Agents suspended for lying under oath!
Los Angeles, US, Feb 13 (EFE).-
Two immigration agents have been suspended amid an investigation for allegedly lying under oath about an incident in Minneapolis, in which a Venezuelan man was shot in the leg last month.
The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, said in a statement that the two agents have been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of “a thorough internal investigation” into the incident that occurred on Jan. 14.
ICE agents accused Venezuelans Julio César Sosa-Celis, 24, and Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna, 26, of allegedly assaulting an agent during an attempted arrest in Minneapolis amid an operation carried out in the city.
One of the suspended agents shot Sosa-Celis because he was allegedly attacking him with a shovel and broom handle, causing injuries that required hospital treatment, according to the initial account from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Federal authorities described the incident as an “attempted murder of a federal agent,” saying that he was ambushed and beaten before firing a defensive shot that struck Sosa-Celis in the leg.
The two Venezuelans were charged with federal offenses, but on Thursday the US Department of Justice dropped the charges, citing new evidence.
Lyons said that review of video evidence revealed that “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements,” a crime punishable by law.
Both ICE and DHS have been under public scrutiny for the violence of immigration raids in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two Americans, Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
This week, border czar Tom Homan announced that the immigration raids had ended and that the agents sent to that city would be leaving.
DHS and its agencies, including ICE, are on the verge of running out of funding after the Democratic minority demanded that the operations be regulated and that agents who have abused their power be held accountable.
Critics have also called for the dismissal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who used the incident to publicize the dangers agents face in immigration raids.
Noem was asked on Friday by reporters at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona, about whether she would remain at the head of the department.
“I am still in charge of the Department of Homeland Security,” she replied. EFE
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