DHS Reports Incident: Undocumented Immigrant Injures Head While Escaping ICE, Refutes Allegations of Assault

An undocumented immigrant, who alleged severe mistreatment by immigration officials, leading to memory loss of having a daughter, actually sustained head injuries by colliding with a concrete wall during an escape attempt, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported on Tuesday.

The incident involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining 31-year-old Mexican national, Alberto Castaneda-Mondragon, in Minnesota on January 8. During the operation, while restrained, he attempted to flee, according to DHS.

“In handcuffs, Castaneda sought to escape custody and ran towards a busy highway,” the agency shared on their social media platform X. “During his flight, he tripped and struck his head on a concrete wall.”

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón is pictured at a St. Paul, Minnesota apartment on Wednesday, February 4, 2026. DHS stated that his injuries occurred while trying to evade federal officers. (Photo by Mark Vancleave/AP)

After capturing Castaneda, officers summoned an ambulance to assess his condition, authorities confirmed. However, he refused medical attention, asserting that he was not hurt, DHS added.

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. 

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.”

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.”