Texas Rangers arrested ICE agent Christian Castro on a Minnesota warrant in May, after a judge there found probable cause to charge him with shooting a man and lying about it. Three months later, Texas released him without sending him back.
At the center of the dispute is a deceptively simple question: Is Castro a fugitive?
Minnesota says yes, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he has “serious concerns” about that.
Abbott says Castro didn’t flee Minnesota to avoid prosecution, citing “publicly available information” that he returned to Texas for work. Castro’s attorney, Salvador Garcia, said during a June bail hearing that Castro was in the Rio Grande Valley “pursuant to his job obligations,” according to reporting from KRGV.
The Texas Newsroom has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to confirm when and why Castro returned to Texas. ICE referred questions to DHS, which didn't address the circumstances of his return but said Castro was “suspended without pay during the ongoing investigation.”
Minnesota calls Abbott’s argument a “smokescreen.” Its position is that Castro was in Minnesota when the alleged crimes occurred and was later found in Texas — regardless of why he left.
Against that backdrop, Castro was released from jail Thursday after reaching the 90-day limit on how long Texas could hold him while awaiting extradition. His release has intensified a fight between Abbott and Minnesota officials, who’ve sued the governor over his failure to send the ICE agent back to face the charges against him.
Minnesota had warned that Castro could be a flight risk, saying in its lawsuit that he had “substantial ties to Mexico” and had discussed marrying a woman there and buying a house after his release.
A federal judge this week acknowledged the possibility Castro could leave the country but declined Minnesota’s request to prevent his release or force Abbott to act. The judge didn’t decide whether Castro qualifies as a fugitive or whether Texas can refuse to extradite him, instead finding the lawsuit was premature because Abbott had not made a final decision.
Texas arrested Castro after Minnesota established probable cause
Minnesota prosecutors charged Castro on May 18 with four felony assault charges and a misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
According to court records, Castro was pursuing Sosa-Celis’ roommate after a vehicle chase ended outside their home. Castro later told investigators that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a broom and snow shovel and that he fired as they ran toward the house.
But Minnesota prosecutors say surveillance video, witness accounts, medical records and physical evidence contradicted key parts of Castro’s account.
Surveillance footage showed Sosa-Celis dropping the shovel before Castro reached the home. Seconds later, Sosa-Celis and his roommate ran toward the front door and disappeared from view. Prosecutors say Castro then raised his arms toward the door in a motion consistent with firing his gun as a city gunshot detection system recorded a gunshot.
Investigators found a casing outside and traced the bullet through the front door and into a bedroom wall. Sosa-Celis was struck in the leg.
Castro also told investigators he had been struck twice in the head with a shovel, but prosecutors say medical records documented no apparent trauma other than an abrasion near his thumb.
Castro’s account initially led federal prosecutors to charge Sosa-Celis and his roommate with assaulting a federal officer. Those charges were later dismissed after prosecutors said newly discovered evidence was “materially inconsistent” with Castro’s allegations.
A Minnesota judge subsequently found probable cause to support the charges against Castro and issued a nationwide warrant. Texas Rangers arrested him on May 29. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally requested his extradition days later.
Minnesota argues those facts are what matter for extradition: Castro is accused of committing crimes while he was physically present in Minnesota, a judge found probable cause to support those charges and he was later found in Texas.
Why does Abbott question that?
Abbott has yet to approve or formally deny Minnesota’s request.
Instead, Abbott has focused on how Castro ended up back in Texas.
The Constitution’s Extradition Clause requires a person charged with a crime who “shall flee from Justice” and is found in another state to be returned to the state where they are charged.
Abbott has questioned whether Castro qualifies as a fugitive because he says Castro returned to Texas for work rather than fleeing Minnesota to avoid prosecution. But the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a person doesn’t have to leave a state specifically to evade prosecution to qualify as a fugitive for extradition purposes.
“The simple inquiry must be whether the person whose surrender is demanded is in fact a fugitive from justice, not whether he consciously fled from justice in order to avoid prosecution,” Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote in the Supreme Court’s 1906 Appleyard v. Massachusetts decision.
Minnesota argues Texas has little authority to reconsider the underlying criminal case through the extradition process. The state also points to Texas court rulings describing Texas’ role as “essentially administrative.”
“After making the arrest, the asylum state may only consider such limited matters as whether the extradition documents are valid on their face and whether the arrestee is the same person named in the request,” Texas’ 14th Court of Appeals wrote in a 2015 case. “The asylum state is not concerned with more substantive matters such as the guilt or innocence of the arrestee or the presence of probable cause because those are issues to be resolved by the courts of the demanding state.”
A Minnesota judge has already found probable cause to support the charges against Castro. Minnesota also points to a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found extradition is a mandatory duty and that federal courts can compel governors to comply.
Abbott has tied the dispute to allegations of fraud involving federal programs in Minnesota.
“I don’t trust Tim Walz on anything, let alone something like this,” Abbott said last week. He said he wouldn’t respond to Minnesota until the state acknowledges the alleged fraud and repays the federal government.
Minnesota also argues Abbott’s handling of Castro’s case differs from his treatment of other extradition requests. According to the lawsuit, Abbott approved roughly 11 Minnesota extradition requests over the previous five years, typically in less than 30 days. He approved three other Minnesota requests while Castro’s remained pending.
Has a court decided whether Castro is a fugitive?
Not yet.
U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. declined Wednesday to settle the dispute. Instead, Rodriguez found that Minnesota went to court too soon.
Abbott hasn’t formally approved or denied the extradition request, and Rodriguez found federal law doesn’t impose a deadline for him to make that decision. Without a decision from Abbott, the judge concluded there wasn’t yet a dispute the federal court could resolve.
Castro’s release doesn’t eliminate the charges against him or Minnesota’s extradition request.
It does, however, leave Minnesota with a criminal case that has cleared a probable-cause hearing and a defendant who was arrested on its warrant — but is now free in Texas as Abbott continues to question whether he should be sent back.
