Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so scrambled after a beating by immigration officers that he could not initially remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall moments such as the night he taught her to dance. But the violence he says he suffered in January while detained in Minnesota is clearly etched in his battered head.
Castañeda Mondragón, 31, recounts that on Jan. 8 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled him from a friend’s car outside a St. Paul shopping center, threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, punched him and struck his head with a steel baton. He says he was dragged into an SUV and later taken to an ICE holding facility, where he was beaten again. He was ultimately treated in the emergency room and diagnosed with eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
He told The Associated Press that officers began hitting him “right away” when they arrested him. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told AP were inconsistent with a fall. Castañeda Mondragón said officers used the same metal rod that had been used to break the vehicle’s windows; he later identified it as an ASP telescoping baton. Law enforcement training materials generally permit such batons to strike arms, legs or torso but warn that striking the head, neck or spine can be deadly and is only justified in circumstances that would permit use of a firearm.
At the ICE facility at Ft. Snelling, he says the beating continued. He pleaded for them to stop, he said, but they laughed and hit him again. He described the officers as racist toward immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to repeated requests for comment from AP.
ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson wrote in a Jan. 20 federal court declaration that Castañeda Mondragón “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment,” but did not explain how the injury occurred. The declaration said Castañeda Mondragón entered the U.S. legally in March 2022 and that officials determined after his arrest he had overstayed his visa. A federal judge later ruled his arrest unlawful and ordered his release.
Officers told nurses that Castañeda Mondragón “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,” an account caregivers immediately questioned. Video posted to social media shows four masked men walking a handcuffed, unsteady Castañeda Mondragón across a parking lot after his arrest; the person recording shouts warnings and bystanders voice concern that he had been hurt. AP could not publish the video because the witness declined to be interviewed or give consent, but Castañeda Mondragón confirmed he is the handcuffed man in the footage.
At least one ICE officer later told medical staff that Castañeda Mondragón “got his (expletive) rocked,” according to court papers and statements from nurses. AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses who spoke about his treatment at Hennepin County Medical Center and the presence of ICE officers in the hospital; they spoke anonymously because they were not cleared to discuss patient care and feared retaliation. An outside physician consulted by AP also said the injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall or running into a wall.
Minnesota law requires health professionals to report wounds that could be related to crimes. An HCMC spokeswoman declined to say whether anyone at the facility reported the injuries. After AP’s initial Jan. 31 story about the arrest, hospital administrators opened an internal inquiry to identify which staff members had spoken with the media, according to internal communications reviewed by AP.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz shared AP’s earlier story and urged change, saying thousands of aggressive, untrained federal agents continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. The arrest and injuries took place the day after the first of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis by immigration officers, events that sparked widespread protests.
Local elected officials have called for an investigation. Minnesota congressional leaders, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and others have demanded answers. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office urged Castañeda Mondragón to file a police report; a St. Paul police spokesperson said the department would investigate “all alleged crimes that are reported to us.” Several members of Congress and local officials contrasted calls for accountability with how other law-enforcement misconduct has been treated.
Castañeda Mondragón, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, came to Minnesota nearly four years ago on a temporary work visa and worked as a driver and roofer, sending earnings home to support his disabled, diabetic father and his 10-year-old daughter. He has no criminal record.
On the day of his arrest he was running errands with a friend when ICE agents surrounded them, broke the vehicle’s windows and opened doors. He says the first person to hit him “got ugly with me for being Mexican” and for not having paperwork. 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 he told staff he had been “dragged and mistreated by federal agents,” court records show.
A week into hospitalization he was minimally responsive. As he slowly recovered, hospital staff handed him his cellphone and he spoke to his daughter, whom he did not initially remember. She reminded him of moments he has trouble recalling: “When I turned 5, you taught me how to dance for the first time.” He said many of those memories have been erased by the head injuries.
He was released from the hospital on Jan. 27 but faces a long recovery. In addition to memory loss, he has balance and coordination problems that may prevent him from returning to roofing work; he said he cannot bathe himself without help. He does not have health insurance and has been told he needs ongoing care. Unable to work, he is relying on coworkers and community members in Minneapolis-St. Paul who have raised funds for food, housing and medical care; he has launched a GoFundMe.
Despite his trauma, he said he hopes to remain in the U.S. and provide for his family again. He distinguishes between the Minnesota community, where he has felt welcomed, and the federal officers he says beat him. But he lives in fear that ICE could return. He said he is terrified to leave his apartment and worries about being stopped again while going to work or buying food. “You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and being stopped,” he said. “They hit you.”