Hospital Staff Question ICE After Man Admitted With Eight Skull Fractures — Agents Claimed He “Ran Into a Wall”

This story is disturbing, so here is your trigger warning.

When federal immigration officers brought in 31-year-old Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, who was severely injured, into a Minneapolis hospital, intensive care nurses say they immediately knew something was wrong.

Image VIA Temecula Talk on FB

Not just with the patient, but with the story they were being told.

ICE agents claimed that Alberto, a Mexican immigrant, shattered his own skull by running headfirst into a brick wall while handcuffed. But doctors and nurses at Hennepin County Medical Center say that explanation, given the injuries they saw, didn’t make sense.

Even under the most basic medical scrutiny.

The injuries were extensive:

• multiple fractures to the face and skull (8 to be exact)

• bleeding across several regions of the brain

• life-threatening hemorrhaging

Nurses familiar with the case say the pattern of trauma could not have resulted from a single impact or accidental fall.

“There was no way,” one ICU nurse said. “It didn’t match the injuries. At all.”

Medical staff described ICE’s account as not just implausible, but insulting to anyone trained in trauma care. A physician unaffiliated with the hospital later reviewed the details and agreed: the injuries were inconsistent with running into a wall.

As Castañeda Mondragón lay disoriented in intensive care, unable to recall what year it was, ICE officers remained at his bedside for days. At one point, agents attempted to shackle his ankles to the hospital bed, prompting a confrontation with hospital staff who argued that the restraints were medically dangerous and violated hospital policy.

Nurses explained that impulsive movement is a common symptom of traumatic brain injury. When Castañeda Mondragón stood up briefly, ICE reportedly interpreted it as an escape attempt. Hospital leadership ultimately intervened, and the shackles were removed after staff agreed to place a nursing assistant in the room instead.

ICE has declined to explain how the injuries occurred. In court filings, an officer avoided the question altogether, stating only that Castañeda Mondragón “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment.”

What is known is this: Castañeda Mondragón was arrested on January 8 near a St. Paul shopping center during a sweeping immigration operation. Four hours later, he was rushed to an emergency room with swelling, bruising, and internal bleeding. A CT scan revealed at least eight skull fractures.

Before his condition worsened, hospital records indicate he told staff he had been “dragged and mistreated by federal agents.”

Castañeda Mondragón appears to have no criminal record. His attorneys say he entered the U.S. legally in 2022 and later started a construction company in Minnesota. He is a roofer from Veracruz, Mexico, and supports a 10-year-old daughter back home. Lawyers argue he was racially profiled during the operation, and only after his arrest did agents determine he had overstayed his visa.

Inside the hospital, his case exposed growing tension between healthcare workers and immigration enforcement. Staff say ICE officers have loitered on hospital grounds, questioned people about citizenship, and disregarded hospital rules about patient care and restraints. Some employees say the presence of armed agents in critical care units has been so intimidating that staff avoid certain hallways and use encrypted messaging to communicate.

Hospital administrators eventually issued new protocols reminding employees that patients in federal custody are still patients first, and that ICE cannot access medical information or impose restraints without proper legal authority.

More than two weeks after his arrest, a federal judge ordered Castañeda Mondragón released from ICE custody. He was discharged from the hospital days later, astonishing some of the staff who treated him.

He is now living with coworkers. He has significant memory loss, cannot work, and faces a long recovery with no clear way to pay for ongoing care.

“He remembers maybe 20 percent of his life,” his brother said. “Instead of leaving with good memories of the United States, you’re left feeling like they treated you like an animal.”

For the nurses who cared for him, the case lingers as a warning, not just about one man’s injuries, but about what happens when enforcement power collides with human bodies, and the truth is expected to bend to authority.

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón survived, but the damage to his body and memory will follow him for the rest of his life. ICE, meanwhile, has offered no real explanation for how a man in their custody ended up with eight skull fractures and bleeding across his brain.

What makes this case so disturbing is not just the violence implied by his injuries, but how easily the official story collapses under medical scrutiny, and how quickly accountability disappears.

This is not just about one man. It’s about what happens when immigration enforcement operates without transparency, and when human lives are treated as collateral damage.