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US judge declines Minnesota’s effort to force Texas to extradite ICE agent
Confirmed
U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said in a written order that he could not stop the county sheriff from releasing Christian Castro or compel Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign an extradition warrant. Minnesota argued in a lawsuit this month that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to authorise the extradition for political reasons.
The judge said in his order that the extradition laws do not outline how long the Texas governor can take to make that decision. “I respectfully but strongly disagree with the court’s order, which nonetheless acknowledges that Christian Castro is a flight risk, that Minnesota will be harmed if he is allowed to flee to Mexico, and that Governor Abbott’s consideration of Minnesota’s extradition request is of ‘an atypically long duration’ — to say the least,” Ellison said in a statement.
Abbott said last week he would not respond to the extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown there.
A federal judge on Wednesday declined to force Texas to extradite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of shooting a man and lying about the incident during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. After a Minnesota judge issued a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest in May, authorities, including Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, arrested Castro in Cameron County on May 29.
Texas attorneys on Tuesday argued the judge could not rule on a decision that's still pending. Instead, he is waiting for the outcome of an internal state investigation considering whether Castro was legally a “fugitive” under the Extradition Clause, the lawyers said.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office handles prosecutions in Minneapolis, said at a new conference that Abbott was unfairly harboring the former ICE agent. "Today’s order rebuffs Minnesota’s efforts to conscript federal courts into commandeering the authority of Governor Abbott’s office,” Mahaleris said in a statement.
Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, welcomed the ruling and said it was the governor's duty to carefully consider the merits of extradition requests. "If Christian Castro walks out of the door of the jail tomorrow and disappears into Mexico, it will be the fault of one person: Governor Greg Abbott,” Moriarty said.
Ellison said in a statement that his office would keep litigating the case but didn't specify what it would do next. The Cameron County sheriff said Castro would be released on Thursday morning.
What's confirmed
- The judge said in his order that the extradition laws do not outline how long the Texas governor can take to make that decision.
- Abbott said last week he would not respond to the extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immi
- A federal judge on Wednesday declined to force Texas to extradite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of shooting a man and lying about the incident during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
- Texas attorneys on Tuesday argued the judge could not rule on a decision that's still pending.
- Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose office handles prosecutions in Minneapolis, said at a new conference that Abbott was unfairly harboring the former ICE agent.
- Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, welcomed the ruling and said it was the governor's duty to carefully consider the merits of extradition requests.
What's still developing
- Minnesota argued in a lawsuit this month that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to authorise the extradition for political reasons.
- A federal judge on Wednesday declined to force Texas to extradite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of shooting a man and lying about the incident during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
- U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said in a written order that he could not stop the county sheriff from releasing Christian Castro or compel Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign an extradition warrant.
- The Cameron County sheriff said Castro would be released on Thursday morning.
- After a Minnesota judge issued a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest in May, authorities, including Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, arrested Castro in Cameron County on May 29.
- Texas attorneys on Tuesday argued the judge could not rule on a decision that's still pending.
- Instead, he is waiting for the outcome of an internal state investigation considering whether Castro was legally a “fugitive” under the Extradition Clause, the lawyers said.
- The judge said in his order that the extradition laws do not outline how long the Texas governor can take to make that decision.