Minnesota Sues Abbott to Extradite ICE Agent
Minnesota Sues Abbott to Extradite ICE Agent
The News
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday to force the extradition of ICE agent Christian Castro, who is charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the shooting of a man during the agency's crackdown in Minneapolis.
Castro faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime over the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.
He has been held at the Cameron County Jail in Texas since his arrest, and Ellison says he could walk free as soon as next week — 90 days into his detention — unless a judge steps in.
Timeline
Sosa-Celis is shot and wounded in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, ICE's crackdown in the city. Castro is later accused of assault and of falsely reporting a crime in the incident.
Minneapolis prosecutors charge Castro. Eleven days later, on May 29, Texas Rangers arrest him.
Castro is held at the Cameron County Jail, a facility in a Texas border town. Texas extradites three other criminal defendants to Minnesota in the same period without incident, according to the lawsuit's account.
Ellison announces the suit against Abbott and says he will ask for a temporary restraining order barring the Cameron County Sheriff's Office from releasing Castro and requiring Abbott to sign the extradition warrant.
Reactions
Ellison argues the risk is flight: Castro is being held in a border town and could leave the country if he is released before Texas hands him over.
Abbott has not publicly explained why he has not signed the extradition warrant. His office told CBS News it "will not comment on pending extradition matters."
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office brought the charges, called the lawsuit "completely unnecessary," saying extradition is "not supposed to be controversial."
What's Next
Ellison's immediate ask is the restraining order — an order that would keep Castro in the Cameron County Jail and compel Abbott to sign the warrant. Without it, Texas law puts Castro in line for release as soon as next week.
Two questions hang over the case: whether Abbott ever intends to sign, and what happens to the Minnesota prosecution if Castro is released before a judge rules.
More
The fight is bigger than one agent. It tests whether a governor can effectively block the extradition of a federal law enforcement officer facing criminal charges in another state — a Democratic attorney general in Minnesota against a Republican governor in Texas, with an ICE operation at the center of it.
Texas has already sent three other defendants to Minnesota since Castro's arrest, which is the core of Ellison's argument that this case is being treated differently.
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