Texas Lets an ICE Agent Charged With Four Felonies in Minnesota Walk Out of Jail Rather Than Extradite Him — and Minnesota’s Attorney General Says Greg Abbott Has Turned Texas Into "a Sanctuary State for Accused Felons"
On Jan. 14, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, ICE agent Christian Castro fired his gun through the closed front door of a north Minneapolis duplex and hit Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, in the leg. Castro told investigators the men inside had assaulted him with a broom and a snow shovel; surveillance footage contradicted that account, and the assault charges filed against the two men were dropped. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause that Castro committed four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He was arrested by the Texas Rangers on May 29 and held in the Carrizalez-Rucker jail in Cameron County. A governor's warrant for Castro's extradition sat on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk from June 3 forward, unsigned. Abbott said he had "serious doubts" Castro qualified as a fugitive under the Extradition Clause. Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott on Aug. 18 to compel him to sign it. On Aug. 26 U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled the suit was not ripe and declined to intervene; Abbott answered Ellison on social media that "you guys are such bad lawyers." Texas law bars holding an extradition subject more than 90 days, and at 7 a.m. on Aug. 27 the Cameron County sheriff released Castro. DHS said he had been suspended without pay pending a federal investigation. The standoff is the first time in this administration that two states have gone to federal court against each other over whether one must hand over a federal immigration officer to face state criminal charges — a fight over the Constitution's Extradition Clause with an accused shooter now at liberty and Minnesota's case stalled.
“I've said all along that Christian Castro would face justice in Minnesota. And now that he's finally turned himself in in Texas, he soon will.”