Aug. 27 (UPI) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who was allegedly involved in the shooting of a man in Minnesota was released from a Texas jail Thursday, one day after a judge denied extradition.
ICE agent Christian Castro, in jail in Cameron County, Texas, for three months while Minnesota officials tried to have him extradited to face assault charges for a shooting in January. The shooting wounded Julio C. Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14, after a car chase and foot pursuit with his roommate. Sosa-Selis is from Venezuela.
Minnesota prosecutors allege that Castro fired through the door of a home, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg. They charged him in May with four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime because they allege he lied about the encounter.
Castro was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, in May by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, the Texas Rangers and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, according to Daniel Borgertpoepping of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino said Castro was released from jail just before 7 a.m. CDT.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled that Castro was to be released because he can’t be held more than 90 days without extradition. Because he did not agree to leave the state, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, would have had to sign the extradition, which he didn’t.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, sued Abbott last week alleging Abbott refused to sign the paperwork authorizing Castro’s transfer.
“Minnesota alleges that Governor Abbott has ‘refused to sign’ and has ‘with[eld]’ the rendition warrant. But the record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro,” The Hill reported Rodriguez wrote in his order.
Minnesota officials also argued for Castro to stay in custody beyond the 90-day window over concerns that he is a flight risk and may try to leave the country. The state said Castro made several calls from jail to a woman in Mexico during which he “expressed a desire to purchase property” there and “move there in the future.”
“We are a nation of laws. It’s incumbent on all of us to uphold them,” Walz said in a statement to The Hill. “Texas has previously fulfilled every extradition — as has Minnesota — and this case should be no different.”
The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed that an officer had fired a “defensive shot” after being attacked by three men with a snow shovel and broom handle. Then Sosa-Celis was hit in the thigh and taken to the hospital.
But department officials later said they were investigating “untruthful statements” made by the officers after watching video evidence.
Since President Donald Trump took office, immigration officers have shot 23 people, killing six. Three of the deaths were American citizens.
Homeland Security has also resisted cooperating with Minnesota officials on the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.