A federal judge on Wednesday refused to order Texas state officials to extradite U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro to Minnesota, where he faces criminal charges over a non-fatal shooting during a law enforcement operation.
Castro was charged in Minnesota with assault and filing a false report of a crime in connection with a January 14 operation in Minneapolis, during which he shot 24-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa Celis.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. stated that Minnesota prosecutors had not demonstrated that Texas Governor Greg Abbott acted improperly by delaying the processing of the extradition request. Texas state law limits the period a suspect can be held under extradition warrants to 90 days, a deadline Castro reaches on Thursday, raising the immediate possibility of his release from custody.
Concerns over flight risk to Mexico
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison initiated legal action last week against the state of Texas and Governor Abbott to force the extradition. Ellison argued in court filings that Minnesota authorities feared Castro might be freed and flee across the nearby international border into Mexico.
Following the judicial ruling, Ellison described the delay by Texas officials as concerning and emphasized that the federal court acknowledged Castro represents a genuine flight risk. Ellison pledged that Minnesota legal authorities will continue litigating the matter and exhaust all available legal options to ensure Castro returns to face prosecution.
Arrest in southern Texas and Operation Metro Surge
State law enforcement officers alongside investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested Castro in May in Harlingen, Texas, several days after formal charges were filed in Minnesota. Castro has remained in detention in Brownsville, a Texas border city located directly across from Mexico.
The shooting of Sosa Celis occurred during Operation Metro Surge, a federal initiative in which the administration of President Donald Trump deployed hundreds of federal immigration officers to Minneapolis. The influx of federal agents led to intense confrontations and civil unrest between law enforcement personnel and local residents across the city.
Sosa Celis survived his injuries, but two other individuals shot by federal immigration agents during the Minneapolis operation, U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed.
