BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) \u2014 The release of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer from a Texas jail on Thursday despite Minnesota\u2019s request for his return could set a dangerous precedent, increasing friction between states and helping criminal defendants avoid justice, legal experts said.<\/p>\n
Christian Castro was released<\/a> from a detention center in Brownsville after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declined to immediately sign his extradition warrant. A federal judge also declined to block Castro\u2019s release or order Abbott to sign the warrant.<\/p>\n Minnesota officials say they believe Castro could flee to Mexico to avoid prosecution on charges he shot a man and lied about it during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis in January. Extradition from Mexico would require action by the Trump administration, which opened an investigation into Castro\u2019s actions but also has argued ICE agents have \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d for their actions on duty.<\/p>\n The standoff between the two states is highly unusual. Under federal law, states have little discretion to reject extradition requests from fellow states. Thousands of fugitives are sent to other states each year as a matter of routine.<\/p>\n But Abbott, a Republican, said last week<\/a> he would not respond to Minnesota\u2019s extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud<\/a> in government social service programs in the state, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown<\/a> there.<\/p>\n The decision is alarming because it injects politics into the extradition process, said Marsh Halberg, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Minnesota.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that\u2019s been a routine process may now turn into a political card,\u201d he said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n In recent months, California and New York have rejected extradition requests<\/a> from Louisiana for doctors accused of mailing abortion pills.<\/p>\n But legal scholars say those cases are different because the doctors weren\u2019t in Louisiana and never fled the state and became fugitives.<\/p>\n Under federal law, the New York and California governors had no duty to turn over the doctors, Georgetown University law professor Stephen Vladeck wrote on Substack.<\/p>\n \u201cAbbott is just refusing to perform his,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire:<\/strong> An email to Abbott\u2019s office was not immediately returned, but he wrote in a Wednesday post on the social platform X that Minnesota\u2019s attorneys did not know the law.<\/p>\n
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