{"id":1026616,"date":"2026-08-27T03:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1026616\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T03:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:17:34","slug":"us-judge-declines-minnesotas-effort-to-force-texas-to-extradite-ice-agent-courts-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1026616\/","title":{"rendered":"US judge declines Minnesota\u2019s effort to force Texas to extradite ICE agent | Courts News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">ICE agent Christian Castro faces criminal charges for shooting a Minnesota man in the leg during an immigration raid.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"avatar\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/author\/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787800654_341_2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\"   aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Published On 26 Aug 202626 Aug 2026<\/p>\n<p>A United States judge has denied a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/8\/18\/minnesota-official-sues-texas-governor-to-force-ice-agents-extradition\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">request to compel the extradition<\/a> of a federal immigration agent charged with shooting a man during an immigration raid in the state of Minnesota and lying about it.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s decision concerns the case of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro, who has been detained in a county jail in Texas since May.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota has sought his extradition as he faces charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime in Hennepin County, which covers Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Under Texas law, the state cannot hold the subject of an extradition order for more than 90 days. At that point, the suspect must either be transferred or released. The deadline for Castro is set to expire on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota argued in a lawsuit this month that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to authorise the extradition for political reasons.<\/p>\n<p>But in Wednesday\u2019s ruling, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr wrote that he could not intervene because Abbott has not yet acted \u2013 and has therefore not yet violated any law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro,\u201d Rodriguez wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Castro has been charged in connection with the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during an immigration raid in Minnesota on January 14, part of a mass deportation effort under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in December, Trump oversaw a large-scale deployment of federal agents to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/the-take-2\/2026\/1\/29\/aje-onl-usa_mnmutualaid_av_v2-290126\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Midwestern state<\/a>, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.<\/p>\n<p>The operation, which lasted less than three months, sparked protests and allegations of civil liberty violations from residents and watchdog groups.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors say Castro fired a gun through the front door of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/17\/us-judge-orders-curbs-on-ice-agents-actions-against-minnesota-protesters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minneapolis<\/a> home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg.<\/p>\n<p>Afterwards, he and another agent accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting federal authorities with a broom handle and snow shovel. Those allegations were later disproven after video of the incident emerged. Criminal charges against Sosa-Celis were subsequently dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Todd Lyons, then-acting director of ICE, confirmed in February that the agents appeared to have made \u201cuntruthful statements\u201d. Castro and the second agent were placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n<p>Castro is currently in custody in Brownsville, Texas. Minnesota officials have warned that he may flee the country if released, citing calls he made from jail to a woman in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>During those calls, Castro talked \u201cabout marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released\u201d, according to Minnesota\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a request for a temporary restraining order last week to stop Castro\u2019s anticipated release and force Governor Abbott to sign the extradition warrant.<\/p>\n<p>Ellison has framed Abbott\u2019s decision not to take action as a way of supporting Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign and skirting federal extradition law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor nearly three months, Greg Abbott has refused to return ICE agent Christian Castro to Minnesota, where he\u2019s charged with shooting a Minnesotan in his own home,\u201d Ellison wrote in a social media post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbbott has a legal obligation to return him. Instead, he\u2019s chosen to ignore the law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ICE agent Christian Castro faces criminal charges for shooting a Minnesota man in the leg during an immigration&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1026617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[413,356,69,454,51,12489,50,80,52,67,72],"class_list":["post-1026616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-civil-rights","tag-courts","tag-donald-trump","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-migration","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117165311315848593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1026617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1026616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1026616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}