Minnesota’s attorney general is taking Texas to federal court over an ICE agent who shot a man during a January raid and then vanished—until investigators tracked him down hundreds of miles away. The agent, Christian Castro, is sitting in a Texas jail right now, facing four felony assault charges for firing into a Minneapolis home where four adults were hiding. One of them, Julio Sosa Solis, was hit in the leg. Castro also faces a charge for falsely reporting a crime after he claimed he only opened fire because Sosa Solis and another man attacked him with shovels and brooms.
The video from that night shows otherwise—you can see the shovel sitting off in the corner, untouched. For more than two months now, Minnesota has been waiting for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign off on Castro’s extradition. He hasn’t. And without that signature, the ICE agent stays put in a border-town jail in Harlingen, Texas.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says the process should be routine. “This should go like every normal process,” she said. “We’re hoping that we see him back here in days. ” Instead, they’re running out of time.
There’s a 90-day window, and Minnesota officials fear it’s about to close. If Castro isn’t sent back soon, he could be set free. That’s why Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a 19-page lawsuit against the governor of Texas, demanding he obey the law. “Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said.
“He must face justice in Minnesota. Governor Abbott should have granted Governor Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now. ”
The lawsuit lays out a disturbing reason for the urgency: Castro has substantial ties to Mexico. According to the filing, law enforcement’s initial review of Castro’s jail calls reveals he’s been in frequent communication with a woman in Mexico—including talk of marrying her and buying a house there.
Castro is fluent in Spanish, and officials believe there’s a real risk he could flee and avoid prosecution entirely. The irony isn’t lost on anyone. ICE’s entire job is to catch people in the United States without permission and send them home. Now Minnesota is worried that an ICE agent might cross the border himself to escape justice.
And here’s the frustrating part: Abbott has authorized extradition of other defendants from Texas jails to Minnesota recently—even while Castro’s case was pending. He just won’t do it for this one. His office isn’t commenting on why. The two states have had ongoing extradition agreements, with both governors signing off in short order in the past.
Just not in this specific case. Ellison and Moriarty call that unacceptable. “We have never heard of anything taking this long because it is an administrative process,” Moriarty said. “It is not supposed to be controversial.
Christian Castro is not above the law, and Greg Abbott isn’t, either. ”
Minnesota has now filed for an emergency restraining order to keep Texas from releasing Castro. The first hearing before a judge isn’t until the end of October—months away. By then, the window could already be closed.
But Castro isn’t the only ICE agent Minnesota is looking to prosecute. There’s another case being built that could involve kidnapping charges. Video from an ICE operation in St. Paul shows agents taking a man from his home in single-digit temperatures while he was wearing only shorts, Crocs, and a blanket.
Family members identified the man as Chong Lee Scott Thao. ICE drove him around for about an hour, then let him go. Thao is a U. S.
citizen. His mother was one of the first nurses treating injured American troops during the secret war in Laos decades ago. Homeland Security defended the operation, claiming Thao lives with two convicted sex offenders and that he refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified. They said he matched the descriptions of their targets.
Moriarty was furious. “That statement makes me livid,” she said. “We should absolutely get people who have broken the law, who have hurt other people. But those people do not live in this household with them.
They are not a part of this family. For ICE to put out a statement like that is irresponsible and reckless. ”
The question now is whether the courts can force Abbott’s hand before it’s too late.
And whether the clock runs out on Castro before Minnesota ever gets the chance to bring him to trial.
