Minnesota Attorney General files suit against Texas governor over extradition of ICE agent News
Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Minnesota Attorney General files suit against Texas governor over extradition of ICE agent

The State of Minnesota on Tuesday sued to compel Texas Governor Greg Abbott to extradite Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro, who faces state charges stemming from an ICE shooting in Minneapolis last January.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Governor Tim Walz sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, asking the court to bar Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino from releasing Castro and order the governor to issue a rendition warrant.

Texas law enforcement arrested Castro pursuant to a nationwide warrant on May 29. On June 2, Minnesota Governor Walz sent a request for extradition (also known as interstate rendition) to Texas Governor Abbott. The complaint alleges that Governor Abbott withheld the rendition warrant necessary to effectuate Castro’s extradition for nearly three months despite repeated requests, even as his office signed extradition warrants for Minnesota in other cases during the same period.

Minnesota’s claims rest on the Extradition Clause of the US Constitution, the Federal Extradition Act, and Texas law. Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, of the US Constitution requires that a person charged with a crime “who shall flee from Justice” to another state “shall, on Demand” of the governor of the state from which he fled, “be delivered up” to be sent back for prosecution. Minnesota argues that the Texas Governor’s withholding of the rendition warrant “lacks any lawful basis.”

The Federal Extradition Act provides that upon presentation of a certified copy of an indictment or affidavit, the governor of the state where the fugitive fled “shall cause him to be arrested and secured” and delivered to the demanding state. Quoting the US Supreme Court in Puerto Rico v. Branstad, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the mandatory procedure affords “no discretion to the executive officers or courts of the asylum state.”

Texas law imposes a duty on the governor to return fugitives upon proper demand. However, the law limits this detention to 90 days. Castro’s detention is set to expire on August 27. Therefore, Minnesota requested a temporary injunction to bar Texas authorities from releasing Castro out of a concern he will flee to Mexico if released. The court has since ordered the parties to submit their written arguments by Monday, August 24 to address this request.

Minnesota charged Castro in May on four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Castro allegedly shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on January 14 during ICE operations.

Governor Abbott’s office has made no official comment on the pending matter, but he remarked at a recent press conference that he will not respond to Minnesota’s demands until the state acknowledges fault for federal social service fraud. President Trump cited this fraud to justify large-scale ICE action in Minnesota.

Following other high-profile ICE use-of-force incidents in Minnesota, state officials and human rights organizations criticized ICE operations, calling for accountability for ICE agents who violate the law.

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