MINNEAPOLIS — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says he cannot forget the pain from a Jan. 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside a St. Paul shopping center: being pulled from a friend’s car, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, punched and struck in the head with a metal baton. He was taken to a detention facility and, he says, beaten again. Emergency-room doctors later found eight skull fractures and five brain hemorrhages.
The 31-year-old Mexican immigrant, who entered the U.S. legally in March 2022, was so disoriented after the injuries that he initially could not remember he had a 10-year-old daughter. He still struggles to recall family memories, like teaching her to dance. He has balance and coordination problems and needs ongoing medical care, but has no health insurance and cannot work.
Castañeda Mondragón says officers used an ASP telescoping baton — a tool commonly carried by law enforcement — to strike him in the head. Training materials and police use-of-force policies generally allow such batons to be used on arms, legs or the torso but say hitting the head, neck or spine is potentially deadly and only permitted when the person poses a lethal threat akin to one that would justify a firearm.
ICE officers, according to nurses at Hennepin County Medical Center, told hospital staff that Castañeda Mondragón “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall.” A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull; an outside physician consulted by The Associated Press said those injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall. Castañeda Mondragón told AP he was hit with the same metal rod used to break the vehicle’s windows during the arrest.
Video posted on social media captures the moments immediately after his arrest: four masked men walk him handcuffed through a parking lot while he staggers, held up by officers. In the clip, a person filming tells bystanders not to resist because “they ain’t gonna do nothing but bang you up some more” and another onlooker shouts, “And y’all gave the man a concussion.” The person who posted the video declined to speak with AP but Castañeda Mondragón confirmed he is the handcuffed man shown.
Court documents and hospital staff accounts say ICE officers watched over Castañeda Mondragón while he was at HCMC. Nurses who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity described his worsening condition and relayed that at least one ICE officer later told hospital staff the man “got his (expletive) rocked.” AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses about his treatment and the presence of ICE officers; an outside physician agreed the injuries did not fit the officers’ wall story.
ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson, in a Jan. 20 federal court declaration, said only that during intake it was determined Castañeda Mondragón “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment.” The document noted he entered the U.S. legally in March 2022 and that the agency learned after the arrest he had overstayed his visa. A federal judge later found the arrest unlawful and ordered his release.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to repeated requests for comment. It is unclear whether body-camera or detention-center security footage of the arrest exists; DHS recently announced a broader rollout of body cameras for immigration officers in Minneapolis as it reduces ICE’s presence there.
Minnesota law requires health professionals to report wounds that could be crimes to law enforcement. An HCMC spokeswoman would not say whether staff reported the injuries, and after AP’s first story on Jan. 31, hospital administrators opened an internal inquiry to track which employees had spoken to the media, according to internal communications viewed by AP.
Castañeda Mondragón’s case has contributed to mounting tensions between federal immigration agents and the Minneapolis medical community and comes amid broader controversy: his arrest occurred a day after the first of two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis, which triggered public protests. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz shared AP’s prior reporting and wrote that aggressive, untrained federal agents have injured and terrorized Minnesotans and that it must end.
Local officials, including Minnesota’s congressional leaders and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, have called for an investigation. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office urged Castañeda Mondragón to file a police report to initiate a probe; he said he plans to do so and St. Paul police said they will investigate all alleged crimes reported to them. Elected officials have criticized ICE’s operations in Minnesota and urged accountability. Rep. Kelly Morrison, a doctor, described overcrowding and poor medical care at the Ft. Snelling ICE facility during a recent tour.
A native of Veracruz, Castañeda Mondragón came to Minnesota nearly four years ago on a temporary work visa and worked as a driver and roofer, sending money to support his elderly, disabled father and his daughter in Mexico. On the day he was arrested he and a friend say they were surrounded by ICE agents who broke the vehicle’s windows and opened doors; he recalls being hit and insulted for being Mexican and lacking immigration documents. About four hours after his arrest he was taken to an Edina emergency room with swelling and bruising around his right eye and bleeding, then transferred to HCMC, where records show he said he had been “dragged and mistreated by federal agents.”
He was minimally responsive about a week into hospitalization but gradually improved and was released from the hospital on Jan. 27. His daughter has been calling daily from Mexico, trying to help him recover memories of events she remembers. Community members in Minneapolis-St. Paul have been raising money for his food, housing and medical care; he has also launched a GoFundMe.
Castañeda Mondragón faces a long recovery and an uncertain future. He cannot climb roofs for work and needs help with basic tasks like bathing. He fears returning to work or leaving his home because he worries ICE agents might stop him again. Despite his trauma, he said he hopes to remain in the U.S. and eventually provide for his family, noting that his experience has made him differentiate between the welcoming people of Minnesota and the federal officers who beat him.