Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, alleging that Abbott is holding up the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with assault in the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis on Jan. 14.
The agent, Christian Castro, was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, on May 29 by the Texas Rangers, a state law enforcement agency. He is still incarcerated in Texas.
Castro is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He is accused of firing his gun through the closed front door of a Minneapolis home, hitting Cesar-Solis in the leg. Three other people were inside the house, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said, and one of the bullets was found embedded in the wall of a child’s bedroom.
Castro is also charged with falsely reporting a crime because he accused Sosa-Celis and another Venezuelan immigrant of assaulting him with a broom and a snow shovel before Castro opened fire. The U.S. Department of Justice charged the two immigrant men with assaulting a federal agent, but the charges were dropped after surveillance footage disproved Castro’s claims.
A federal law prohibits law enforcement agencies from detaining fugitives awaiting extradition for longer than 90 days. That means Castro could be released from custody as soon as Wednesday, Aug. 26, Ellison said. His office is asking a federal judge to compel Abbott to instruct Cameron County authorities to hand over Castro to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehensions and to block Castro’s release if he is not extradited before the 90-day deadline.
“Christian Castro is not above the law, and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison said.
A spokesperson from Abbott’s office said the governor would not comment on pending extradition matters.
Ellison and Moriarty, whose office charged Castro, emphasized that extradition is a routine task and a settled point of law.
The U.S. Constitution mandates that states facilitate the extradition of people charged in other states.
A unanimous 1987 Supreme Court ruling said “the commands of the Extradition Clause are mandatory, and afford no discretion to the executive officers or courts of the asylum state.”
Moriarty said Texas has facilitated the extradition of three defendants to Minnesota since Gov. Tim Walz sent the extradition paperwork for Castro to Abbott’s office on June 2 — only Castro’s case has been delayed during that time.
“It is an administrative process. It is not controversial,” Moriarty said.
Texas Democrats, who hold a minority in the state Legislature, are also pushing Abbott to hand over Castro.
Originally published on minnesotareformer.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.