An immigration officer pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges.

He is accused of lying to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis.

ICE officer Christian Castro appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge.

Prosecutors indicted him this month on six federal counts of making false statements.

The charges relate to the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Castro said very little during the hearing.

ICE suspended him without pay earlier this year.

The federal hearing came a day after Castro appeared in state court on assault charges.

He was released from custody after that appearance.

His defense attorney, Daniel Gerdts, declined to comment.

The proceedings followed months of legal battles over whether Castro, 52, would be extradited from Texas, his home state.

He returned on his own after being freed from a Texas jail last month.

In both cases, prosecutors say Castro shot 24-year-old Sosa-Celis in the leg.

They say he fired through the front door of a Minneapolis home.

They also say he later lied to investigators.

He told them he had been attacked with a broom handle and a snow shovel before firing his gun.

Minnesota prosecutors charged him in May but could not extradite him from Texas, where he had been arrested.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, refused to sign the extradition warrant.

Castro eventually turned himself in to federal authorities.

Officials had warned he might flee across the U.S.-Mexico border.

It is the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal officer for actions during this year's Operation Metro Surge.

Minnesota authorities have battled the Trump administration over who should handle any charges against Castro.

The Department of Homeland Security has called Minnesota's prosecution of Castro "unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt."

It says only federal authorities have jurisdiction.