Venezuelan man who entered the United States in May 2023. He was present during a January 2026 immigration enforcement encounter between ICE officer Christian Castro and his neighbors Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Aljorna in north Minneapolis, and was detained by ICE afterward. A federal district court later found his detention unlawful and ordered his release.
Case
ICE officer Christian Castro shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis in January 2026. DHS initially called it self-defense against an armed ambush; ICE later said officers' sworn testimony appeared untruthful. Castro faces state assault and federal false-statement charges.
Role at the time: Named by DHS as one of three men present during the January 14 encounter; he held Temporary Protected Status and had no pending immigration-court matters. Statement issued through his legal representative.
Statement summary
After a federal district court found his own immigration detention unlawful and ordered his release, a statement from Jeanette Boerner, director of Adult Representation Services, on behalf of Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma said his "life has been turned upside down by ICE's actions in Minnesota," and that the court's ruling and the dismissal of the charges against his neighbors Sosa-Celis and Aljorna "vindicates the unjustness of his arrest, detention, and the deliberate smearing of his name and broadcasting of his photo," though it "doesn't give him back the weeks he spent in detention."
“Gabriel's life has been turned upside down by ICE's actions in Minnesota. The district court order finding his detention unlawful and ordering his release, along with the decision to dismiss charges against his neighbors, vindicates the unjustness of his arrest, detention, and the deliberate smearing of his name and broadcasting of his photo along with unfounded allegations, but it doesn't give him back the weeks he spent in detention. We look forward to further investigation into this matter and hope that those responsible face consequences.”
Relative to ICE's conduct toward Hernandez-Ledezma during and after the January 14 encounter, his attorney's statement condemns his detention as unlawful and unjust and calls for accountability. It is recorded on this case because Hernandez-Ledezma was one of the three men DHS's original account named as attacking Castro, and the statement responds directly to that dismissal and to his own detention arising from the same encounter; it targets ICE's broader conduct rather than Castro's shooting specifically.
Statement dates: March 2, 2026
Statement dates: March 2, 2026
