ICE officer in Minnesota-Texas extradition fight arrested in Minneapolis

Minnesota officials have arrested a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who is accused of injuring a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year and lying about what led up to the shooting.

The Wednesday arrest of Christian Castro capped an extradition fight with Texas that landed in court last month after Minnesota officials sued Gov. Greg Abbott to force the handover. A federal judge sided with Abbott, who argued that he had not denied extradition but was instead investigating whether Castro could be considered as a fugitive because he didn’t flee Minnesota but was reassigned to Texas by ICE.

The lawsuit also failed to stop Castro’s release from a Cameron County jail on Aug. 27.

Weeks later, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said its agents arrested Castro, who is facing separate state and federal charges related to the shooting, in Minneapolis. The ICE officer had been ordered to appear Friday in a Minnesota federal court.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office is prosecuting Castro on the state charges, cheered the news.

“Gov. Abbott’s attempt to shield Mr. Castro from accountability has failed,” Moriarty said in a Wednesday statement. “We look forward to commencing our prosecution.”

Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris told The Texas Tribune that the governor was applying the Constitution instead of shielding anyone.

“In concert with federal officers, Texas law enforcement facilitated Mr. Castro‘s arrest for charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Castro is now in custody,” Mahaleris added in a Thursday statement. “Minnesota lost in court when it tried to commandeer the authority of another state. Tim Walz is not the Governor of Texas.”

Castro is accused of firing through the closed door of a Minneapolis house during Operation Metro Surge, hitting Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg. The ICE officer later told investigators that Sosa-Celis and another man had attacked him, but video of the encounter refuted that claim, court documents said.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on May 18 charged Castro with four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Later that month, the Texas Rangers helped arrest him in Cameron County.

Shortly after, the Minnesota governor sent an extradition request to Texas — a process that typically sees quick cooperation between the two states — but Abbott did not sign the necessary paperwork for months.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott on Aug. 18, as Castro was approaching 90 days in jail. People awaiting extradition cannot be held longer than 90 days under Texas law, and Minnesota officials feared he would flee to avoid prosecution if released.

Abbott argued that he had not made a decision on the extradition request because of “serious doubts” that Castro qualified as a fugitive, and he instructed Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden to investigate the matter.

“Based on publicly available information indicating that Mr. Castro was compelled to return to Texas on orders of the federal government, I have serious doubts that the prerequisites for extradition have been met,” the governor wrote in a July 31 letter to Howden.

The status of the secretary of state’s investigation is not clear. Mahaleris directed the Tribune’s question to Howden’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Days after Castro was released from a Texas jail, federal prosecutors charged the ICE officer with only lying to investigators, following pressure from U.S. Justice Department’s leaders, ProPublica reported.

Castro, who was released on bond Sept. 4, intends to plead not guilty and was ordered to appear for a federal court hearing Friday in Minnesota, according to the Associated Press.