Judge declines to block ICE agent’s release in extradition fight

A federal judge refused Wednesday to stop the potential release of an ICE officer charged in Minnesota with shooting a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis, leaving the agent at the center of a widening extradition dispute between Minnesota and Texas.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. denied Minnesota’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Texas officials from releasing Christian Castro from the Cameron County Jail in Brownsville. Castro has been held there since his May 29 arrest while Minnesota officials seek to bring him back to face criminal charges.

Castro is charged in Minnesota with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during Operation Metro Surge in north Minneapolis. Prosecutors say Castro shot Sosa-Celis in the leg and then falsely claimed the man and another person had attacked an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

The Guardian reported that Castro is accused of firing through the front door of a Minneapolis home, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg with a bullet that lodged in a child’s bedroom wall. CBS News reported that investigators said footage from a nearby camera helped prove Castro’s account was false.

Minnesota authorities have sought Castro’s extradition for months. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has not signed a rendition warrant, and Texas law limits detention of fugitives to 90 days. CBS News reported Castro could be released as early as Thursday; The Guardian reported he could walk out of jail as soon as Wednesday.

In a 13-page ruling, Rodriguez said Minnesota’s request was not ready for court intervention because Abbott had not formally granted or denied the extradition demand. “The record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro,” Rodriguez wrote. Instead, the judge said, Abbott had asked the Texas secretary of state to “investigate [Minnesota’s] demand and report to [the Governor] concerning Mr. Castro’s situation and circumstances and whether he ought to be surrendered.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said after the ruling that Castro “will not escape justice in Minnesota.”

“I respectfully but strongly disagree with the court’s order, which nonetheless acknowledges that Christian Castro is a flight risk, that Minnesota will be harmed if he is allowed to flee to Mexico, and that Governor Abbott’s consideration of Minnesota’s extradition request is of ‘an atypically long duration’ — to say the least,” Ellison said. “We will continue litigating this case and do everything in our power to ensure Castro is returned to Minnesota to face his criminal charges.”

Ellison accused Abbott of “playing with constitutional fire” by not signing the warrant. He also said Wednesday that “it feels like” Abbott is “harboring a fugitive.”

“The Constitution is very clear on state extradition, it’s a ministerial thing. The governor does not have any discretion,” Ellison said. “No matter what happens, we’re never going to let Christian Castro escape accountability.”

Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, said the court properly rejected Minnesota’s request. “The court was right to reject Governor Walz’s absurd claim,” Mahaleris said. “The Constitution requires deliberate consideration of extradition requests and tasks Governor Abbott to ‘decide, upon such evidence as he may deem satisfactory’ whether ‘the person demanded is a fugitive.’ Today’s order rebuffs Minnesota’s efforts to conscript federal courts into commandeering the authority of Governor Abbott’s office.”

Abbott’s attorneys argued Tuesday that he needed more time to examine Minnesota’s request. Abbott has also linked his refusal to respond to Minnesota’s demand to fraud investigations in Minnesota social service programs. “While they’re making demands, I’ve got a demand of my own,” Abbott said last week, “and that is it’s time for Minnesota to step up and repay the United States of America and Americans for all the fraud that they’ve committed in their state under federal programs.”

Hennepin County prosecutor Mary Moriarty said the delay was unusual. “We have never heard of anything taking this long because it is an administrative process,” she said. “It is not supposed to be controversial.”