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An illegal immigrant who claimed he was beaten by immigration officers so bad 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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Alberto Castañeda Mondragón poses for a portrait at an apartment Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. The Department of Homeland Security said Castaneda hurt himself trying to flee federal authorities. (Mark Vancleave/AP Photo)
Once officers nabbed Castaneda, 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 was taken to the vHennepin County Medical Center for his head injury.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Castaneda 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 with 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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Observers film ICE agents as they hold a perimeter after one of their vehicles got a flat tire on Penn Avenue on Feb. 5, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again.
Castaneda said also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from 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, Castañeda 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.”
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Homeland Security placed the blame on Castaneda 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.”