An immigration officer pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges that he lied to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge after prosecutors indicted him this month on six federal counts of making false statements concerning the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Clad in a black suit, with an electronic monitor visible at his ankle, Castro said remarkably little throughout the hearing.

He had been suspended without pay by ICE earlier that year.

Castro’s federal hearing transpired a day after he had appeared in state court on assault charges and was subsequently released from custody.

His defense attorney, Daniel Gerdts, declined to comment on the case as he departed the courthouse on Friday.

The court proceedings came after months of legal battles over whether Castro, 52, should be extradited from Texas, his home state, to face charges in Minnesota.

He ended up returning on his own after being freed from a Texas jail last month.

The case was swiftly drawn into the national political arena.

Minnesota is a frequent target of President Donald Trump, who routinely disparages Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who ran as the vice presidential candidate in the last presidential election, as well as Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, at times linked his refusal to sign Castro’s extradition warrant to ongoing investigations of massive fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota.

Trump invoked the fraud investigations to justify the crackdown.

In the federal as well as the state proceedings brought against Castro, prosecutors allege that he discharged his firearm through the front door of a Minneapolis residence, striking 24-year-old Sosa-Celis in the leg.

They further contend that Castro subsequently deceived investigators by claiming he had been assaulted with a broom handle and a snow shovel prior to firing his weapon.

In May, Minnesota prosecutors filed charges against him, yet their attempts to extradite him from Texas, where he had been apprehended, proved unsuccessful.

He eventually turned himself in to federal authorities after officials warned that he might flee across the U.S.-Mexico border once released from a Texas jail.

He was indicted separately in U.S. District Court earlier this month.

This is the Justice Department's first prosecution of a federal officer for actions taken during this year's Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of agents to the Twin Cities and led to sweeping protests, arrests, and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers.

At an earlier hearing before a federal judge in Texas, Castro was released on a $75,000 bond and ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor.

He was further instructed to surrender his passport and any personal firearms.

Minnesota authorities have clashed with the Trump administration over who ought to handle any charges against Castro.

The Department of Homeland Security has characterized Minnesota’s prosecution of Castro as “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” asserting that only federal authorities possess jurisdiction.

Following the issuance of a nationwide warrant by a Minnesota judge, authorities—among them Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension—apprehended Castro in Texas on May 29.

While he was being detained in Texas, Minnesota pursued his extradition; Abbott, however, declined to sign an extradition warrant.

Russ Bynum, a journalist and reporter stationed in Savannah, Georgia, likewise contributed to this story.