The immigrant, who suffered eight skull fractures during an ICE arrest, says the beating was unprovoked

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alberto Castaneda Mondragon says his memory was so damaged after he was beaten by immigration officials that he couldn’t remember having a daughter at first and still struggles to remember precious moments like the night she taught him to dance.

But the violence he suffered while in custody in Minnesota last month is seared into his mind.

He remembers being dragged from a friend’s car outside a St. Paul shopping center by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Jan. 8, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, punched and hit in the head with a steel rod. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken into custody, where he says he was beaten again.

He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain of eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

“They started beating me immediately when they arrested me,” the Mexican immigrant told The Associated Press this week, which recently reported that his case has contributed to growing friction between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis hospital.

Castaneda Mondragon, 31, is one of an unknown number of immigration detainees who, despite avoiding deportation during the Trump administration’s enforcement crackdown, were left with lasting injuries after violent encounters with ICE officials. His case is one of excessive force claims that the federal government has so far refused to investigate.

He was so badly hurt that he was in a coma for days at the Hennepin County Medical Center, where ICE officers watched him constantly.

Authorities claim he ran into a wall first

Officers told nurses Castaneda Mondragon “ran head first into a brick wall on purpose,” her caregivers immediately suspected. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of her skull — injuries a doctor told the AP were consistent with a fall.

“There was never a wall,” Castaneda Mondragon said in Spanish, recalling that ICE officers hit him with the same metal rod used to break the windows of the vehicle he was inside. He later identified it as an ASP, a telescoping baton routinely carried by law enforcement.

Training materials and police use-of-force policies across the U.S. say such batons can be used to strike arms, legs and bodies. But a blow to the head, neck or spine is considered potentially lethal force.

“A person can be hit in the head with any baton when the person presents the same threat that warrants 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 testified in the police’s defense.

Once he was taken to an ICE holding facility in Ft. Snelling in suburban Minneapolis, Castaneda Mondragon said officers began beating him. Realizing he was seriously injured, he said, he begged them to stop but they “laughed at me and hit me again.”

“They were very racist people,” he said. “No one insulted them, neither me nor the person they detained me. It was their character, their racism towards us, because we were immigrants.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the past two weeks on Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries.

It’s unclear whether his arrest was captured on body-camera footage or if there may be additional footage from security cameras at the detention center.

In a recent bid to increase transparency, DHS announced a broader rollout of body cameras for immigration officials in Minneapolis as the government also reduced ICE’s presence there.

ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson did not say in a declaration filed Jan. 20 in federal court how Castaneda Mondragon’s skull was fractured. During the intake process, it was determined that he “suffered a head injury that required emergency medical treatment,” he wrote in the filing.

The announcement also states that Castaneda Mondragon entered the United States legally in March 2022, and that the agency determined he had overstayed his visa only after his arrest. A federal judge later ruled that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his release from ICE custody.

In the video, he is seen being arrested

A video posted on social media captured the immediate moments of Castaneda Mondragon’s arrest as four masked men handcuffed him across the parking lot. The video shows him unsteady and stumbling, being held by ICE officers.

“Don’t resist,” shouts the woman recording. “Because they won’t do anything but threaten you more.”

“Hopefully they don’t kill you,” she adds.

“And you all hurt the man,” shouts a man standing nearby.

The witness who posted the video declined to speak to the AP or consent to the publication of the video, but Castaneda Mondragon confirmed that he is the handcuffed man seen in the recording.

At least one ICE official later told staff at the medical center that Castaneda Mondragon “shouted her (expletive),” according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking her release and nurses who spoke to the AP.

The AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses about Castañeda Mondragón’s treatment in 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. AP also consulted an outside physician, who confirmed the injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall or running into a wall.

Minnesota state law requires health professionals to report any injuries to law enforcement that could be treated as part of a crime.

An HCMC spokesman declined to say this week whether anyone at the facility had done so. However, following the Jan. 31 publication of the AP’s initial story about Castaneda Mondragon’s arrest, hospital administrators opened an internal investigation to determine which staff members spoke to the media, according to internal communications seen by the AP.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a link to an earlier AP story about Castañeda Mondragón, but his office did not say whether state officials would follow up with a response.

“Law enforcement cannot exist without law,” Walz wrote in a post on X. “Thousands of aggressive, untrained agents of the federal government continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. This must end.”

Castaneda Mondragon’s arrest came the first day after two fatal shootings of US citizens by immigration officials in Minneapolis, which triggered widespread public protests.

Elected officials call for accountability

Minnesota congressional leaders and other elected officials, including St. Paul Mayor Kaoli Harr, called this week for an investigation into Castaneda Mondragon’s injuries.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, which oversees St. Paul, asked Castaneda Mondragon to submit a police report for the investigation. He said that he plans 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 ICE limits its operations to immigrants with violent rap sheets, Castaneda Mondragon has no criminal record.

“We are seeing a repeated pattern of Trump administration officials trying to lie and gaslight the American people when it comes to the brutality of this ICE operation in Minnesota,” Minnesota Democrat Sen. Tina Smith said in a statement.

Rep. Kelly Morrison, another Democrat and a doctor, recently visited the ICE facility in the Whipple Building, Ft. Snelling. She said she saw overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and an almost complete lack of medical care.

“If any of our police officers do this, you know what happened with George Floyd in Minnesota, we will hold them accountable,” said Democratic Representative Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul.

A native of Veracruz, Mexico, Castaneda Mondragon came to Minnesota on a temporary work visa about four years ago and found work as a driver and roofer. He uses his earnings to support his disabled and diabetic elderly father and 10-year-old daughter.

On the day of his arrest, he was running to work with a friend when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by ICE agents. They broke the window of the car and started opening the door. He said the first person who hit him “got ugly with me for being Mexican” and not having documents showing his immigration status.

About four hours after her arrest, court records show, Castaneda Mondragon was taken to an emergency room in suburban Edina with swelling and bruising around her right eye and bleeding. He was then transported to a Minneapolis medical center, where he told staff he had been “dragged and abused by federal agents” before his condition worsened, court records show.

A week after her hospitalization, caregivers described her as minimally responsive. As her condition slowly improved, hospital staff gave her her cellphone, and she spoke to her child in Mexico, whom she could not remember.

“I am your daughter,” she said. “You left when I was 6.”

Her head injury erased past experiences that are memorable for her daughter, including birthday parties and the day she left for America, and she tries to revive her memory in daily calls.

“When I was 5 years old, you taught me how to dance for the first time,” she recalled recently.

“All these moments, really, for me, are forgotten,” he said.

He showed gradual improvement and was discharged from the hospital on January 27, to the surprise of some who treated him.

A long recovery lies ahead

He faces a long recovery and an uncertain future. Questions arise as to whether he will be able to continue to support his family in Mexico. “My family depends on me,” he said.

Although his wounds have faded, the effects of his traumatic brain injuries still remain. Apart from his memory problems, he also has balance and coordination problems which can prove debilitating for a person whose job requires him to go up and down. He said that he could not bathe without help.

“I can’t climb on the roof now,” he said.

Castaneda Mondragon, who does not have health insurance, said doctors told her she needed constant care. Unable to earn a living, he is relying on the support of co-workers and members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul community raising money to help provide food, shelter and medical care. He has started a GoFundMe.

Still, he hopes to live in America and provide for his loved ones again someday. He draws a contrast between the people of Minnesota, where he said he felt welcome, and the federal officials who beat him.

“It’s a great fortune to be alive, to be back in this country, to heal, and 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 that ICE officers are coming for him dominates his dreams. He is now afraid to leave his apartment, he said.

“You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and getting stopped,” Castaneda Mondragon said, “or you’re buying your food somewhere, your lunch, and they show up and stop you again. They hit you.”

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Bisecker reported from Washington. Mustian reported from New York, and Attanasio reported from Seattle.

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Brooke is a corps member for reports for the Associated Press/America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that lets journalists report on issues hidden in local newsrooms.