Federal Judge Refuses to Force Texas to Hand Over ICE Officer Charged in Minneapolis Shooting

A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, ruled Wednesday that he has no basis to force Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to extradite ICE officer Christian Castro to Minnesota, where Castro faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a Trump appointee, denied Minnesota's request for a temporary restraining order that would have kept Castro locked up past Thursday and forced Abbott's hand on the extradition warrant. Under Texas law, a person held while awaiting extradition can't be jailed more than 90 days. Castro was arrested in Cameron County on May 29. That clock runs out Thursday, according to the Texas Tribune.

Rodriguez's reasoning was narrow and procedural. Abbott hasn't refused extradition. He also hasn't approved it. "The record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro," Rodriguez wrote, according to Al Jazeera. Because Abbott hasn't technically acted, the judge found Minnesota's lawsuit isn't ripe for a court to intervene.

What Castro is accused of doing

The case stems from a January 14 immigration enforcement operation in north Minneapolis, part of what Al Jazeera identifies as Operation Metro Surge, a Trump administration deployment of federal agents to Minnesota that began in December and lasted under three months.

Prosecutors say Castro fired a gun through the front door of a home, striking 24-year-old Venezuelan migrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg. The bullet then traveled through a closet and lodged in a child's bedroom wall, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who announced the charges in May.

Castro allegedly told federal investigators afterward that Sosa-Celis and another man attacked him with a broom handle and snow shovel, prompting him to fire in self-defense. The Department of Homeland Security repeated that account publicly at the time, saying the officer fired a "defensive shot" after being struck. Al Jazeera reports those claims were later disproven after video of the incident surfaced, and criminal charges against Sosa-Celis were dropped. Then-Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons ordered a federal probe into the incident in February after the footage contradicted the officer's account.

The legal fight over extradition

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott last week, arguing the governor was illegally slow-walking the extradition for political reasons. "Greg Abbott is turning Texas into a sanctuary state for violent criminals," Ellison said in a statement reported by the Texas Tribune, adding that "Christian Castro will not escape justice in Minnesota" regardless of Wednesday's ruling.

Minnesota's lawyers argued Castro is a flight risk, pointing to jailhouse phone calls with a woman in Mexico in which he discussed marrying her and buying a house there after his release, according to the Associated Press.

Abbott's office pushed back hard. Spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris called Minnesota's push "absurd" and said the Constitution gives the Texas governor discretion to weigh evidence before deciding whether someone is a fugitive, per the Texas Tribune. Abbott told the court he has "serious doubts" Castro even qualifies as a fugitive, citing media reports that Castro didn't flee Minnesota but instead returned to Texas for job obligations.

Under extradition law, interstate extradition under the U.S. Constitution requires the fleeing suspect to actually be a fugitive from the demanding state. If Castro left Minnesota for ordinary work reasons rather than to dodge charges, Abbott has a colorable legal argument for delay, even if the optics look like stonewalling.

Rodriguez didn't rule on the merits of whether Castro is a fugitive. He ruled that Minnesota's case wasn't ready for a federal court to decide because Abbott hasn't formally denied anything yet. The judge did acknowledge Abbott has been sitting on the request for what he called an "atypically long duration," but found no federal law sets a deadline for a governor to act. He also rejected the flight-risk argument as a basis for holding Castro past the legal 90-day limit, writing that Castro fleeing to Mexico "would impose a hardship on Minnesota's prosecutorial efforts" but that this outcome "does not alter the analysis."

What's unresolved

Federal prosecutors are separately considering their own charges against Castro, according to CBS News reporting cited by the Guardian, meaning Wednesday's ruling doesn't necessarily end his legal exposure even if he walks out of the Cameron County Jail on schedule.

Ellison has said his office will keep fighting to bring Castro back to Minnesota. Whether that means an appeal, a renewed lawsuit once Abbott formally acts, or reliance on a federal case remains an open question. So does the timeline: nothing in Wednesday's ruling stops Abbott from signing the extradition warrant tomorrow, next month, or never. The judge simply said it isn't a court's place to make him decide on Minnesota's schedule.