Authorities Probe Alleged ICE Beating of Mexican Man

Minnesota and federal authorities are probing the alleged beating of a 31-year-old Mexican citizen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on January 8, 2026, in a St. Paul shopping center parking lot, where the man sustained eight skull fractures that required intensive care treatment at a Minneapolis hospital.

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón claims the agents pulled him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and struck him repeatedly in the head with a steel baton. In an interview earlier this month, he described the officers as racist who began beating him immediately upon arrest. His lawyers have argued that the encounter involved racial profiling.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement maintains that Castañeda Mondragón caused his own injuries by attempting to flee while handcuffed. According to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation against the man, who had overstayed his work visa from Mexico. She stated that he ran toward a main highway, fell and struck his head on a concrete wall. However, a January 20 court filing by ICE indicates that officers only identified...