Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) sued Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) on Tuesday, seeking the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of assaulting a man during the federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
ICE agent Christian Castro was arrested and charged by Minneapolis prosecutors with falsely reporting a crime stemming from the nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota earlier this year.
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At a news conference Tuesday, Ellison said the lawsuit seeks to prevent Texas authorities from releasing Castro and compel Abbott to sign the extradition warrant so Minnesota law enforcement can take custody of the ICE agent. Ellison said Castro could be released next week after being detained for 90 days, according to Texas law.
Castro allegedly shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh on Jan. 14 while pursuing another man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna. Both men were in the country illegally, according to federal authorities. Following the shooting, federal officials accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of assaulting an ICE officer with a broomstick or snow shovel. Those charges were later dropped after an investigation into whether ICE agents had falsely reported details of the incident.
In May, Castro was arrested in Texas and charged with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime related to the January incident.
“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.”
“Christian Castro is not above the law and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison added.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the lawsuit to compel Castro’s extradition “should be a completely unnecessary lawsuit.”
Officials at the Texas jail and local prosecutors have been “very cooperative,” Moriarty said, adding that the extradition request “is not supposed to be controversial.”
Minnesota charges ICE officer in nonfatal shooting during immigration crackdown
She noted that Texas has extradited three unrelated criminal defendants to Minnesota since Castro’s arrest, all at the request of state authorities and without incident.
“Gov. Abbott has received communication with us on an ongoing basis, including recently,” Ellison said. “We have to take the position that they are refusing to honor the extradition request.”
