A 31-year-old Mexican immigrant has alleged that he was brutally beaten by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers during his arrest in Minnesota last month, leaving him with multiple skull fractures and brain hemorrhages.Alberto Castañeda Mondragón told the Associated Press that he was pulled out of a friend’s car outside a shopping centre in St. Paul on January 8 and assaulted without provocation. “They started beating me right away when they arrested me,” he told AP. According to Castañeda Mondragón, officers threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, punched him and struck his head with a steel baton before dragging him into an SUV and transporting him to a detention facility, where he claims the assault continued.“They were very racist people. No one insulted them, neither me nor the other person they detained me with. It was their character, their racism toward us, for being immigrants,” he said.ICE officers have maintained in court documents that he “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall” while being detained, a version of events he has strongly denied.“There was never a wall,” he told AP, alleging that officers used an ASP, a telescoping metal baton commonly carried by law enforcement, to hit him.Mondragón, who has no criminal record, said he plans to file a complaint. He told AP that he continues to suffer from memory loss, balance issues and lingering trauma following the incident.When he closes his eyes at night, he said, fear still grips him. “You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and being stopped,” he told AP. “They hit you.”

Eight skull fractures, five brain hemorrhages

Castañeda Mondragón was later taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where CT scans revealed fractures to the front, back and sides of his skull. He told AP that doctors informed him he had suffered eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.Medical staff who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity reportedly questioned ICE’s claim that his injuries resulted from running into a wall. An outside physician consulted by AP also stated that the pattern of injuries was inconsistent with such an explanation.A federal court declaration filed on January 20 by ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson acknowledged that during intake it was determined Castañeda Mondragón “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment.” The filing also noted that he had entered the US legally in March 2022 but had overstayed his visa. A federal judge later ruled that his arrest had been unlawful and ordered his release from ICE custody.

Calls for probe, political backlash

The case has triggered calls for an investigation from Minnesota elected officials, including Governor Tim Walz, who posted on X: “Law enforcement cannot be lawless. Thousands of aggressive, untrained agents of the federal government continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. This must end.”St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and several members of Congress have also sought accountability, according to AP.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from AP. ICE and DHS also did not immediately respond to queries from PEOPLE magazine.