Judge blocks Minnesota bid to extradite ICE officer from Texas
What's next: Christian Castro can be released Thursday when Texas' 90-day detention limit expires, despite Minnesota's flight-risk warning.
A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, rejected Minnesota's effort to force the extradition of Christian Castro, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged over a January shooting in Minneapolis. The ruling clears the way for Castro's release on Thursday, when Texas' 90-day limit for holding someone awaiting extradition runs out.
Minnesota wants Castro returned to face assault and false-report charges tied to the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a 24-year-old Venezuelan man who was wounded in the leg. Prosecutors say Castro fired through a home's front door and then falsely claimed Sosa-Celis and another man attacked an ICE officer. Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled that Gov. Greg Abbott had not formally refused extradition and was not bound by a set deadline to act.