Three men who “ambushed” an ICE officer in Minneapolis, spurring him to fire his gun and wound one of them, all came to the U.S. during the Biden administration and are in the country illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was trying to arrest Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on Wednesday night when he fled in his vehicle, crashed it and ran toward a home, officials said.
An ICE officer caught up with the man, who resisted, tumbling the agent and migrant to the ground.
That’s when Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma, two other illegal immigrants from Venezuela, rushed from the home and began beating the ICE officer with a snow shovel and broom handle. Mr. Sosa-Celis struggled free and joined in the beating, DHS says.
The officer then fired his gun, wounding Mr. Sosa-Celis in the leg.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled the attack on the officer “an attempted murder.”
“Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot,” she said.
All three migrants have been taken into ICE custody. Mr. Sosa-Celis and the ICE officer were still in the hospital Thursday morning.
DHS said Mr. Sosa-Celis, who came to the U.S. in August 2022, was previously convicted of driving without a license and two counts of giving a false name to authorities. He was released by local authorities before ICE could issue a deportation “detainer” request, and federal officers were targeting him for arrest in the community when he fled.
Mr. Ajorna and Mr. Hernandez-Ledezma came to the U.S. in April 2023.
Mr. Ajorna was ordered deported but defied that order.
Mr. Hernandez-Ledezma was marked as a “nonenforcement priority” by the Biden administration, DHS said.
