AUSTIN, Texas — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, attempting to force the return of a federal immigration agent accused of shooting a man and lying about the incident.
The legal action targets Abbott and Cameron County Sheriff Manny Trevino to block the release of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro, 52. Castro faces Minnesota charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime following a Jan. 14 shooting in Minneapolis. Minnesota officials warn Castro could walk out of a Texas jail as early as Aug. 26 under local detention limits, creating a severe risk that he might cross the border into Mexico to evade trial.
”Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said. “He must face justice in Minnesota. Gov. Abbott should have granted Gov. Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now.”
Castro was arrested in Texas this May after allegedly shooting through the front door of a Minneapolis home, striking Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg. Prosecutors state the bullet then passed into a child’s bedroom wall. Castro allegedly claimed Sosa-Celis and another man attacked an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel, but federal judges later dismissed charges against the men after evidence indicated agents fabricated the story.
According to legal filings, Castro has made jailhouse phone calls discussing plans to marry a woman in Mexico and buy a home there once freed. Ellison warned that if Castro steps across the border, bringing him back through international diplomatic channels could prove nearly impossible.
Abbott publicly refused to process the transfer, tying the criminal matter to unrelated political disputes involving Minnesota social service programs.
”I will not respond to them at all until they step up and do what’s right and they acknowledge their fault in the fraud that took place,” Abbott said during an Austin news conference.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty noted that Texas routine transfers continue normally, having recently sent three other criminal defendants back to Minnesota without issue. Moriarty called the legal battle “a completely unnecessary lawsuit.”
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The filing in U.S. District Court cites a 1987 Supreme Court ruling establishing that governors have no discretionary power to deny valid extradition requests under the U.S. Constitution. Legal experts note that using unrelated political grievances to block a transfer lacks judicial support.
”I don’t think that the courts (even the fairly partisan Roberts Court) would consider that as a legitimate basis for noncompliance with the extradition request,” said Peter E. Larsen, an assistant professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
Federal officials previously labeled the state prosecution a “political stunt,” arguing local authorities lack jurisdiction over federal agents. Online court records list no defense attorney for Castro, and local jail officials declined to pass messages to the agent.
