ICE agents beat Mexican national in St. Paul, fracturing his skull in 8 places, then unlawfully detained him

On January 8, 2026, ICE agents pulled Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, a 31-year-old Mexican citizen, from a vehicle in a St. Paul, Minnesota shopping center parking lot, threw him to the ground, and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton, according to his own account and hospital records. He was hospitalized in intensive care with brain hemorrhaging and eight skull fractures across the front, back, and both sides of his skull. ICE has said Castañeda Mondragón was injured when he attempted to flee while handcuffed and fell, hitting his head against a concrete wall, but hospital staff told the Associated Press that account could not plausibly explain his brain hemorrhaging and fragmented memory, and a treating doctor said the injuries were inconsistent with a fall. Castañeda Mondragón has said the arresting officers were "racist" and "started beating me right away."

ICE also detained Castañeda Mondragón without a valid legal basis. Attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf on January 16, 2026, and U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank found that ICE had not obtained a warrant to hold him until after his arrest. Frank ruled on January 23, 2026 that the detention was unlawful under the Constitution and ordered ICE to release Castañeda Mondragón from custody immediately, and to remove any restraints imposed on him at Hennepin County Medical Center against medical advice. As of five days after that order, the government had not confirmed his release, and the court ordered the government to file a letter with assurance of release by January 28, 2026 or face an order to show cause.

The St. Paul Police Department and FBI separately opened investigations into the beating, delayed for weeks because Castañeda Mondragón's hospitalization and immigration-status uncertainty held up his police report; by the time investigators sought surveillance footage from nearby businesses in mid-February, at least one business's camera footage had already been automatically overwritten. DHS has not answered detailed questions about the arrest, including whether officers recorded body-worn camera footage, and a January 20 court filing contradicted DHS's public claim that Castañeda Mondragón had been specifically targeted for removal.

Updates

2026-05-29 — Court granted Castañeda Mondragón's motion for attorney's fees [3]

Judge Frank granted Castañeda Mondragón's motion for attorney's fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act, ordering the government to pay nearly $16,000 in legal fees for the successful habeas challenge to his detention.