‘I saw everything’: Woman speaks out after ICE shot and detained her partner in north Minneapolis
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Indriany Mendoza Camacho wants to speak up about the night an ICE agent shot her partner in the leg in mid-January.
Julio Sosa-Celis, her partner, and Alfredo Aljorna are accused by federal authorities of assaulting an ICE officer last month in north Minneapolis. The Department Of Justice alleges they used a broom to hit the officer, according to a court filing.
Mendoza Camacho, however, disputes the government’s account of what occurred. She and Aljorna’s partner, Valentina de Los Angeles Moreno, were present that night and witnessed the events, she said.
“They’re saying — it was on the news, it was everywhere — that my partner attacked an officer with a shovel and a broom, but I’m a witness, I saw everything, and my partner never grabbed anything to hit him or anything like that,” Mendoza Camacho said. “He only tried to separate them so they could both get into the house.”
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Eventually, Aljorna was able to break free from the agent and both he and Sosa-Celis were able to enter the home, according to Mendoza-Camacho. Sosa-Celis closed the door and shortly after she heard a gunshot.
The ICE agent shot his gun through the front door and the bullet went through it, seriously grazing Sosa-Celis’ right thigh.
Mendoza Camacho said she’s also concerned that the ICE officer discharged his firearm into the house, injuring Sosa-Celis and endangering children living in the downstairs apartment.
The bullet continued its movement and went through another wall and finally landed in the wall of a first-floor apartment, near a child's playpen used as a crib.
The attorney, representing the family living in the apartment, confirmed that four children and an adult were present inside the room at the time of the shooting.
The two couples had been residing in a two-bedroom, second-floor apartment in a duplex, she said. Each couple has one child.
From Venezuela to Minnesota
Mendoza Camacho, 19, is a native of Venezuela. She entered the country as an unaccompanied minor when she was 16 with her then 4-month-old son.
Sosa-Celis, Aljorna and de Los Angeles are all citizens of Venezuela.
According to court documents, Sosa-Celis, 24, entered the U.S. in 2023. Aljorna, 25, came in 2021. Both were granted Temporary Protected Status in 2024. Both are also seeking U Visas, which are granted to “victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Mendoza Camacho is also seeking a U Visa.
Valentina entered the country as an unaccompanied child when she was 17. She was later released to the care of her legal guardian in Minnesota. According to her attorney, she has never been arrested or convicted of a crime.
Both Sosa-Celis and Aljorna are in ICE custody as they await trial on charges they assaulted the ICE officer on the night of Jan. 14.
‘They’re going to kill us, Mom’
Mendoza Camacho said they rushed up the stairs and placed a dresser behind the apartment’s front door that night. The group of four adults and two children could see ICE vehicles and agents outside. Suddenly they heard a window break and tear gas filled the room.
At one point, Mendoza Camacho’s mother records a video call with her daughter. She weeps holding her son in her arms, telling her mother “They’re going to kill us, Mom.”
ICE agents eventually got through all the doors and found them. The men were arrested and the women were detained and their children were placed with family members.
Two days later, Mendoza Camacho and de Los Angeles Moreno, were flown to a Texas detention center. They were shackled by the feet, hands, and waist on the plane, she said.
At the detention center, most of her roommates were from Minnesota, but they were originally from all over the world, she said. They played cards, dominoes and bingo.
The water tasted like chlorine and she suspects it made her ill.
Mendoza Camacho said she was frustrated when she couldn’t get medical care for a cyst that appeared on her leg.
“It came out, and I had it for three days, during which it became infected and caused me leg pain. It took three days before they could take me to see a doctor,” Mendoza Camacho said.
Mendoza Camacho returned home to her son Jan. 28. She wants to speak out now with Aljorna's partner still in Texas and the men in ICE detention.
“I want my roommates to be released very soon and that they are free as soon as possible,” she said.
