Minnesota Sues Texas Governor to Force ICE Agent Extradition

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, seeking to compel the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged with wounding a man and then lying about the shooting during a federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, also names Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino as a defendant, asking the court to bar the sheriff from releasing the agent before he can be transferred to Minnesota custody.

The legal action stems from the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant who was legally in the United States. ICE agent Christian Castro, 52, is accused of firing a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg with a bullet that lodged in a child’s bedroom wall. Prosecutors say Castro then falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel, claims that were later contradicted by surveillance camera footage, according to AP News.

The Shooting and Its Aftermath

The shooting occurred during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement operation that DHS called the largest ever carried out. Beginning in December 2025, the operation sent thousands of agents to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, resulting in at least 3,789 arrests. The operation was part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign and was justified by the administration as a response to a welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota’s social programs.

Castro was charged by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on May 18 with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause to believe Castro fired at the front door of an occupied home, knowing people had just run inside. A nationwide arrest warrant was issued the same day.

Federal authorities initially charged Sosa-Celis and his roommate, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, with assaulting a federal officer, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem accused them of attempted murder. Those charges were later dropped when video evidence directly contradicted the story given by federal officers, with the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota filing a highly unusual motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice.

The Extradition Standoff

Castro was arrested on May 29 in Cameron County, Texas, by Texas Rangers who executed the nationwide warrant. He was booked into the Cameron County jail near the Mexican border. Minnesota sent a formal extradition request to Abbott’s office on June 2, and Gov. Tim Walz requested Abbott sign Castro’s extradition paperwork days after the arrest.

Despite regular communication initially, no rendition warrant has been issued more than two months later. The lawsuit notes that during the same period, Abbott signed rendition warrants for three other defendants in unrelated Minnesota cases, and that in the last five years, Minnesota has sought the extradition of 11 people from Texas, all with warrants signed within an average of 30 days.

Under Texas law, a fugitive cannot be held for more than 90 days awaiting extradition. Castro could be released as early as August 26, according to The Guardian. Minnesota officials fear he could flee across the border into Mexico if freed, noting that the lawsuit states Castro has been making calls from jail to a woman in Mexico, talking about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when released.

“Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said. “He must face justice in Minnesota. Gov. Abbott should have granted Gov. Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now.”

Abbott’s Refusal

Abbott said Tuesday that he has no immediate intention to respond to extradition requests from Minnesota, citing ongoing investigations of fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which Trump used to justify the immigration crackdown there.

“I will not respond to them at all until they step up and do what’s right and they acknowledge their fault in the fraud that took place,” Abbott said during a news conference in Austin, according to KSAT/Texas Tribune.

Abbott, a Republican seeking a fourth term as governor in a tight race with Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa, has tied his refusal to the welfare fraud scandal. He said Minnesota must acknowledge its fault in the fraud and fully repay the United States for the fraud committed.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called the delay unprecedented. “I don’t think we can emphasize this enough, extradition is a routine administrative process,” she said. “It isn’t about politics. It is the law.” Moriarty said that despite efforts to communicate with Abbott’s office, they received “radio silence,” and when a conversation finally occurred, it was “somewhat vague” but made clear the governor does not intend to honor the request.

Legal Arguments

The lawsuit relies on the Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 2), which states that a person charged in any state with a crime who flees to another state “shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up.” The suit cites a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Puerto Rico v. Branstad that compliance with the extradition clause is mandatory, affording no discretion to the governor.

“The duty to extradite is ministerial and non-discretionary,” Ellison wrote in the lawsuit. “Federal courts have the power to enforce a governor’s duty to extradite a fugitive, and a governor ‘has no power to refuse to extradite a fugitive based on the merits of the fugitive’s case.’”

Peter E. Larsen, an assistant professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, said Ellison’s argument was based on a “fairly straightforward legal principle” that requires states to hand over accused criminals to other states when asked. Abbott’s rationale, tying the extradition to unconnected fraud cases, makes the Minnesota argument even clearer, he said.

“I don’t think that the courts (even the fairly partisan Roberts Court) would consider that as a legitimate basis for noncompliance with the extradition request,” Larsen said, according to Truthout.

Broader Jurisdictional Conflict

The case highlights a broader conflict between Minnesota state officials and the federal government over who has authority to investigate and prosecute federal officers for on-duty conduct. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has called Moriarty’s prosecution of Castro “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” saying only federal authorities have jurisdiction in the case.

The federal government took a similar stance following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens killed by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge. Moriarty sued the Trump administration in March to gain access to evidence in those cases before federal prosecutors turned it over in July.

What’s Next

Ellison is asking the court to declare Abbott’s inaction unlawful, issue an order compelling him to sign the rendition warrant, and block Castro’s release until he is turned over to Minnesota authorities. With the 90-day detention limit approaching, the urgency of the request is clear.

“Christian Castro is not above the law, and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison said.

The case raises significant questions about interstate legal cooperation and the limits of gubernatorial discretion in extradition matters. As the August 26 deadline approaches, the federal court’s response will determine whether Castro faces trial in Minnesota or walks free from a Texas jail.