Immigrant whose skull was broken in eight places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory is very confused after his beating immigration officers She said she initially couldn’t remember having a daughter and still struggles to remember precious moments, like the night he taught her to dance.
But the violence he endured while being detained in Minnesota last month is seared into his battered mind.
He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents removing him from a friend’s car outside a hotel on Jan. 8. St. Paul He throws him to the ground in the mall, handcuffs him, then punches him and hits him in the head with a steel baton. He recalls saying he was dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he was beaten again.
He also remembers the intense pain in the emergency room from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
“When they arrested me, they immediately started beating me,” the Mexican immigrant told the Associated Press this week, which recently reported how his case was going. contributed to increased friction between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis hospital.
Castañeda Mondragón, 31, is among an unknown number of immigration detainees who face permanent injuries after violent encounters with ICE officers despite avoiding deportation during the Trump administration’s sanctions. His case is one of many allegations of excessive force that the federal government has so far refused to investigate.
He was so badly injured that he was disoriented for days at Hennepin County Medical Center, where ICE officers kept a constant eye on him.
Officers claimed he crashed headfirst into a wall
Officers told the nurses that Castañeda Mondragón had “intentionally crashed head-on into a brick wall,” and her caregivers were immediately suspicious. A computed tomography scan showed fractures on the front, back and both sides of the skull; A doctor told the AP that these injuries were not consistent with a fall.
“There was never a wall,” Castañeda Mondragón said in Spanish, recalling that ICE officers hit her with the same metal bar used to break the windows of the vehicle she was in. He later identified it as an ASP, an ASP. telescopic baton It is routinely performed by law enforcement agencies.
Training materials and police use-of-force policies across the U.S. say such a baton can be used to strike the arms, legs and body. However, hitting the head, neck or spine is considered potentially lethal force.
“The only time a person can be hit in the head with a baton is when the person presents the same threat that would warrant the use of a firearm — a lethal threat to the officer or others,” said Joe Key, a former Baltimore police lieutenant and use-of-force expert who testified in the officer’s defense.
On one occasion, he was taken to an ICE holding facility in Ft. Castañeda Mondragón, who was sniffing in suburban Minneapolis, said officers continued to beat him. Realizing he was seriously injured, he said he begged them to stop, but they just “laughed at me and hit me again.”
“They were very racist people,” he said. “No one insulted me or the other person they detained me with. This was their character, their racism towards us because they were immigrants.”
Department of Homeland SecurityICE, which includes ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the past two weeks regarding Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries.
It’s unclear whether his arrest was captured on body camera footage or if there was additional footage from security cameras at the detention center.
In a recent bid to increase transparency, DHS made an announcement: wide availability Body cameras for immigration officers in Minneapolis as the government also reduces ICE’s presence there.
ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson did not say how Castañeda Mondragón’s skull was shattered in an affidavit filed Jan. 20 in federal court. During the application process, it was determined that he “suffered a head injury that required immediate medical treatment,” the application wrote.
The statement also stated that Castañeda Mondragón entered the United States legally in March 2022, and only after her arrest did the agency determine that her visa had expired. A federal judge later ruled that his detention was unlawful and ordered his release from ICE custody.
Video shows him stumbling during arrest
A video posted on social media captured the moments after Castañeda Mondragón’s arrest, when four masked men walked her handcuffed through a parking lot. The video shows him unsteady and stumbling before being stopped by ICE officers.
“Don’t resist,” the recording woman shouts. “Because they won’t do anything but make you explode some more.”
“I hope they don’t kill you,” he adds.
“And you gave the guy a concussion,” a male spectator shouts.
The witness who released the video declined to speak to the AP or allow the video to be released, but Castañeda Mondragón confirmed that he was the handcuffed man seen in the recording.
At least one ICE officer later told staff at the medical center that Castañeda Mondragón was “(expletive) shaken,” according to court documents filed by nurses who spoke to the AP and a lawyer seeking his release.
The AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses about Castañeda Mondragón’s treatment at HCMC and the presence of ICE officers at the hospital. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss patient care and feared retaliation. The AP also consulted an outside doctor who confirmed that the injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall or hitting a wall.
Minnesota state law requires healthcare professionals to report to law enforcement any injuries that may have been committed as part of a crime.
An HCMC spokesman this week declined to say whether anyone at the facility had done so. But after the AP first reported on Castañeda Mondragón’s arrest on Jan. 31, hospital administrators launched an internal investigation to determine which staff members had spoken to the media, according to internal memos viewed by the AP.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a link to AP’s previous article about Castañeda Mondragón, but his office did not say whether state officials would follow up on responses.
“Law enforcement cannot be vigilantes,” Walz said. wrote in the post on X. “Thousands of aggressive, untrained agents of the federal government continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. This must end.”
The arrest of Castañeda Mondragón took place a day later first related to two fatal shootings The killings of US citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis triggered widespread public protests.
Elected officials call for accountability
Minnesota congressional leaders, including St. Other elected officials, including St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, called for an investigation into Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries this week.
St. The Ramsey County Prosecutor’s Office, which oversees Paul, called on Castañeda Mondragón to file a police report for an investigation. He said he plans to file a complaint. St. A St. Paul police spokesman said the department will investigate “all alleged crimes reported to us.”
While the Trump administration insists that ICE limit its operations to immigrants with violent criminal records, Castañeda Mondragón has no criminal record.
Minnesota Democrat Sen. “When it comes to the brutality of this ICE operation in Minnesota, we are seeing a repeated example of Trump Administration officials attempting to lie and deceive the American people,” Tina Smith said in a statement.
Rep. Kelly Morrison, another Democrat and physician, recently toured the Whipple Building, the ICE facility in Ft. Sniffing. He said he saw severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and an almost complete lack of medical care.
St. “If any of our police officers did this, you know what just happened to George Floyd in Minnesota, we hold them accountable,” said Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul.
Castañeda Mondragón, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, came to Minnesota about four years ago on a temporary work visa and found work as a driver. roofer. He uses his earnings to support his elderly father, who is disabled and diabetic, and his 10-year-old daughter.
While running errands with a friend the day of his arrest, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by ICE agents. They started breaking the windows of the vehicle and opening its doors. He said the first person to hit him “was nasty to me because he was Mexican and didn’t have papers showing his immigration status.”
Court records show Castañeda Mondragón was taken to an emergency room in suburban Edina about four hours after her arrest complaining of swelling, bruising and bleeding around her right eye. He was later transferred to a Minneapolis medical center, where he told staff he was “dragged and mistreated by federal agents” before his condition worsened, according to court records.
A week after admission, caregivers described him as minimally responsive. As his condition gradually improved, hospital staff gave him his cell phone and talked to the child he could not remember in Mexico.
“I’m your daughter,” he told her. “You left when I was 6.”
Her head injuries erased past experiences that were memorable for her daughter, including birthday parties and the day she left for the United States. He tries to jog his memory in daily searches.
“When I was 5, you taught me to dance for the first time,” she reminded him recently.
“Actually, all these moments are forgotten for me,” he said.
He made a gradual recovery and was released from the hospital on January 27, to the surprise of some who treated him.
We have a long recovery ahead of us
He faces a long recovery and an uncertain future. Questions arise about whether he can continue to support his family in Mexico. “My family depends on me,” he said.
Although the bruises have diminished, the effects of traumatic brain injuries remain. In addition to his memory problems, he also has balance and coordination problems, which can be debilitating for a man whose job involves climbing up and down stairs. He said he couldn’t take a bath without help.
“I can’t go on the roof anymore,” he said.
Castañeda Mondragón, who does not have health insurance, said doctors told her she needed constant care. Unable to make ends meet, his co-workers and Minneapolis-St. relies on the support of its members. The St. Paul community is raising money to help provide food, shelter and medical care. He started a GoFundMe.
Still, he hopes to stay in the United States and one day provide for his loved ones. He distinguishes between people in Minnesota, where he says he was welcome, and the federal officers who beat him.
“It’s a great chance to survive, to be in this country again, to be able to heal and try to move forward,” he said. “For me, this is the best chance in the world.”
But when he closes his eyes at night, the fear that ICE officers will come for him dominates his dreams. He said he was now afraid to leave his home.
“You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and being stopped,” Castañeda Mondragón said, “or you’re buying your food, your lunch somewhere, and they come and stop you again. They hit you.”
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Biesecker reported from Washington. Mustian reported from New York and Attanasio reported from Seattle.
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Brook is an affiliate member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. report for america is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
