DHS says illegal immigrant injured head after hitting concrete wall while fleeing ICE, denies beating claims

An illegal immigrant who claimed he was beaten by immigration officers so badly that he couldn't remember that he had a daughter, hit his head on a concrete wall while attempting to escape from authorities, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers had placed Alberto Castaneda-Mondragon, 31, a Mexican citizen, in handcuffs during a Jan. 8 operation in Minnesota when he tried to escape, DHS said. 

"While in handcuffs, Castaneda attempted to ESCAPE custody and ran toward a main highway," the agency wrote on X. "While running, Castaneda fell and hit his head against a concrete wall."

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Once officers nabbed Castaneda-Mondragon, they called an ambulance to examine him, authorities said. He declined medical services and stated he was uninjured, DHS said. 

The officers notified medical personnel at the detention facility and Castaneda-Mondragon was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center for his head injury.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Castaneda-Mondragon recalled the events differently. 

"They started beating me right away when they arrested me," he said. 

He told the news outlet that he was in a vehicle with a friend when ICE agents pulled them over outside a St. Paul shopping center. He said he was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and then punched and struck in the head with a steel baton. 

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He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again.

Castaneda-Mondragon said he also remembers the emergency room and claimed he suffered eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

"There was never a wall," Castañeda said in Spanish.

Once he was taken to an ICE holding facility at Ft. Snelling in suburban Minneapolis, Castaneda-Mondragon said officers resumed beating him. He pleaded with them to stop but they just "laughed at me and hit me again," he said. 

"They were very racist people," he said. "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."

Homeland Security placed the blame on Castaneda-Mondragon and those who dangerously resist arrest when confronted by authorities. 

"Resisting officers and evading arrest is dangerous for our officers, illegal aliens, and the public - it is also a felony and a federal crime," the agency said. "Sanctuary politicians need to stop encouraging this dangerous behavior that puts our officers and the public at risk."