Minneapolis — Alberto Castañeda Mondragon says his memory was very blurry after he was beaten Immigration officers That at first he didn’t remember that he had a daughter and still struggles to remember precious moments like the night he taught her to dance.
But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while in detention is etched in his damaged brain.
He recalls that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled him out of a friend’s car on January 8 outside a friend’s house. Saint Paul They took him to the shopping center and threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, then punched him and hit his head with a steel baton. He recalls being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention center, where he said he was beaten again.
He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain of eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain bleeds.
“They started beating me immediately when they arrested me,” the Mexican migrant recounted this week to the Associated Press, which recently reported what his condition was like. Contribute to increased friction Between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis hospital.
Castañeda Mondragon, 31, is one of an unknown number of immigration detainees who, despite avoiding deportation during the Trump administration’s crackdown, have suffered permanent injuries after violent encounters with ICE officers. His case is one of a number of excessive force allegations that the federal government has so far refused to investigate.
He was so badly injured that he remained disoriented for days at Hennepin County Medical Center, where ICE officers constantly monitored him.
Officers told nurses Castañeda Mondragón “intentionally ran headfirst into a brick wall,” an account that caregivers immediately disputed. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and sides of his skull, injuries a doctor told the AP were not consistent with a fall.
“There was no wall at all,” Castañeda Mondragon said in Spanish, recalling that ICE officers beat him with the same metal bar he used to smash the windows of the car he was riding in. Telescopic stick They are routinely implemented by law enforcement authorities.
Training materials and use-of-force policies for police across the United States say such a baton can be used to strike the arms, legs and body. But striking the head, neck, or spine is considered lethal force.
“The only time you can hit someone in the head with any stick is when they present the same threat that would permit the use of a firearm — a deadly threat to the officer or others,” said Joe Key, a former Baltimore police lieutenant and use-of-force expert who testifies in police defense.
Once he was transported to the ICE detention facility in Ft. Castañeda Mondragon, smoking in a suburb of Minneapolis, said the officers resumed beating him. He said that after he realized he was seriously injured, he asked them to stop but they “made fun of me and beat me again.”
“They were very racist people,” he added. “No one insulted them, neither me nor the other person they detained me with. It was their character, their racism towards us, because we were immigrants.”
the Department of Homeland SecurityICE, which includes ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the past two weeks on Castañeda-Mondragón’s injuries.
It is not clear whether his arrest was captured on body camera footage or whether there could have been additional recordings from security cameras at the detention center.
In a recent effort to enhance transparency, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wide offering Of the body cameras of immigration officers in Minneapolis as the government is also withdrawing the ICE presence there.
ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson did not say how Castañeda-Mondragon’s skull was crushed in a January 20 declaration filed in federal court. During the admission process, it was determined that he “suffered a head injury requiring emergency medical treatment,” he wrote in the filing.
The announcement also said that Castañeda-Mondragon entered the United States legally in March 2022, and that it was only after his arrest that the agency determined that he had overstayed his visa. A federal judge later ruled that his arrest was unlawful and ordered him released from ICE custody.
A video posted on social media showed the moments immediately after Castañeda-Mondragón’s arrest, as four masked men walked him in handcuffs through the parking lot. The video shows the man unsteady and stumbling, and he is stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“Don’t resist,” shouts the woman recording. “Because they’ll do nothing but beat you up more.”
“I hope they don’t kill you,” she adds.
“You gave the man a concussion,” shouted a bystander.
The witness who posted the video declined to speak with The Associated Press or provide consent for the video’s release, but Castañeda Mondragón confirmed that he was the handcuffed man shown in the recording.
An ICE officer later told staff at the medical center that Castañeda Mondragón “was shaken (expletive),” according to court documents filed by an attorney seeking his release and nurses who spoke with the AP.
The Associated Press interviewed a doctor and five nurses about Castañeda-Mondragon’s treatment at HCMC and the presence of ICE officers inside 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 collision with a wall.
Minnesota law requires health professionals to report any wounds that may have been committed as part of a crime to law enforcement.
An HCMC spokeswoman declined to say this week whether anyone at the facility had done so. However, after the AP’s initial story was published on Jan. 31 about Castañeda-Mondragón’s arrest, hospital administrators opened an internal investigation seeking to identify employees who had spoken to the media, according to internal communications seen by the AP.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a link to a previous Associated Press story about Castañeda-Mondragon, but his office did not say whether state authorities would pursue answers.
“Law enforcement cannot be lawless,” Walz said he wrote in the post on X. “Thousands of aggressive and untrained federal government agents continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. This must end.”
Castaneda Mondragón’s arrest came the next daythe first toTwo fatal shootings US citizens in Minneapolis by immigration officers, sparking widespread public protests.
Minnesota congressional leaders and other elected officials, including St. Paul Mayor Kawley Herr, this week called for an investigation into Castañeda-Mondragon’s injuries.
The Ramsey County Prosecutor’s Office, which oversees St. Paul, urged Castañeda-Mondragon to file a police report to begin an investigation. He said he planned to file a complaint. 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 rap sheets, Castañeda Mondragón has no criminal record.
“We are seeing a recurring pattern of Trump administration officials trying to lie and gaslight the American people when it comes to the brutality of the ICE process in Minnesota,” Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement.
Rep. Kelly Morrison, another Democrat and a physician, recently toured the Whipple Building, an ICE facility in Ft. Snoring. She said she saw severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and an almost complete lack of medical care.
“If any of our police officers do this, you know what just happened in Minnesota with George Floyd, we hold them accountable,” said Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul.
Castañeda Mondragon, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, came to Minnesota nearly four years ago on a temporary work visa and found jobs as a driver and roofer. He uses what he earns to support his elderly father, who is disabled and diabetic, and his 10-year-old daughter.
On the day of his arrest, he was running errands with a friend when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by ICE agents. They started breaking the car’s windows and opening its doors. He said the first person who hit him “was ugly to me because I’m Mexican” and he didn’t have documents proving his immigration status.
About four hours after his arrest, Castaneda Mondragon was taken to an emergency room in suburban Edina with swelling and bruising around his right eye and bleeding, court records show. He was then taken to Minneapolis Medical Center, where he told staff he was “dragged and abused by federal agents,” before his condition deteriorated, court records show.
A week after his admission to hospital, his caregivers described him as being very responsive. As his condition slowly improved, hospital staff handed him his mobile phone, and he spoke to his child in Mexico, whom he could not remember.
She said to him: I am your daughter. “She left when I was 6 years old.”
His head injuries erased past memorable experiences for his daughter, including birthday parties and the day he left for the United States, and she tried to revive his memory with daily calls.
“When I was five years old, you taught me how to dance for the first time,” she recently reminded him.
“All of these moments, for me, are really forgotten,” he said.
He showed gradual improvement and was discharged from the hospital on January 27, much to the surprise of some who treated him.
He faces a long recovery period and an uncertain future. Questions loom over whether he will be able to continue to support his family in Mexico. “My family depends on me,” he said.
Although his bruises have faded, the effects of his traumatic brain injuries remain. In addition to his memory problems, he also has problems with balance and coordination which can be debilitating for a man whose job requires walking up and down stairs. He said he could not shower without help.
“I can’t go up to the roof now,” he said.
Castañeda Mondragon, who does not have health insurance, said doctors told him he needed constant care. Unable to earn a living, he relies on support from co-workers and members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul community that raises money to help provide food, housing and medical care. He has launched a GoFundMe.
However, he hopes to remain in the United States and provide for his loved ones again one day. He differentiates between the people in Minnesota, where he said he felt welcome, and the federal officers who beat him.
“It’s tremendous luck to be able to survive, to be able to be in this country again, to be able to heal, to try to move forward,” he said. “For me, this is the best luck in the world.”
But when he closes his eyes at night, the fear of ICE officers coming after him dominates his dreams. He said he now feels afraid to leave his apartment.
“You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and stopping, or you’re buying your food from somewhere, or your lunch, and they come and stop you again,” Castañeda-Mondragon said. “They beat you.”
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Besecker reported from Washington. Mustan reported from New York and Atanasio reported from Seattle.
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Brock is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for AmericaIt is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.