Abbott Asks Federal Court To Reject Minnesota’s Effort To Force ‘Rushed’ Extradition of ICE Agent

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is asking a federal judge to reject Minnesota’s request to compel him to extradite an ICE agent, Christian Castro.In a filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Mr. Abbott questioned whether Mr. Castro qualifies as a fugitive — saying he may have been ordered by his superiors back to Texas instead of fleeing of his own volition. Mr. Abbott asked the court to reject the motion to compel extradition and to dismiss the lawsuit, accusing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other Minnesota officials of trying to improperly rush the process. Mr. Abbott’s office has previously declined to comment on the extradition request. In May, Texas Rangers arrested Mr. Castro, acting on a nationwide arrest warrant issued by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. The charges stem from a January 14 incident in which Mr. Castro shot a Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in the leg. Mr. Castro alleged that he was attacked by Mr. Sosa-Celis and another man with a shovel and a broomstick. Minnesota law enforcement officials say video evidence contradicts the ICE agent’s story — the Department of Homeland Security has also said it is investigating the matter — and the Hennepin County attorney, Mary Moriarty, charged him with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. A DHS spokesman, however, called the charges a “stunt” and said the investigation and any disciplinary action should be handled by federal officials.Mr. Castro has been held in a jail in Cameron County since he was arrested at the end of May. But under Texas law, individuals may be released after 90 days if their extradition is not approved. Without Mr. Abbott approving the extradition warrant or a court intervention, Mr. Castro is set to be released on Wednesday. That deadline prompted Minnesota officials to file a federal lawsuit to compel Mr. Abbott to approve the extradition.The U.S. Constitution states that “a person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.” Governors typically have limited discretion on whether to approve extradition requests. However, Texas law gives the governor the authority to investigate whether a defendant should be extradited. In Monday’s filing, attorneys for Mr. Abbott suggested “any sane person would say” that an individual who commits a crime at Minneapolis and “is thereafter forcibly abducted by being shoved into a van, and then driven to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is not a fugitive who ‘fled’ Minnesota.”“For that reason, Governor Abbott directed the Secretary of State—almost one month ago—to investigate whether Mr. Castro is a fugitive based on public reports and a preliminary investigation indicating he may have been ordered to return to Texas by ICE,” the filing states.The filing slammed Mr. Walz and other Minnesota officials for trying to compel Mr. Castro’s extradition, arguing that they are acting with undue haste.“The Governor has not yet received the report from the Secretary of State. And he has not yet denied (or approved) Governor Walz’s requisition, as even Minnesota candidly admits. Even so, Minnesota rushed to file this lawsuit, claiming (incredibly) that an ICE agent subject to ongoing federal investigations — and who neverbothered to post bond — was somehow a flight risk to Mexico because he ‘is fluent in Spanish,’” the filing reads. The filing also took a shot at Mr. Walz, saying that it is “difficult to ignore the possibility that Governor Tim Walz is content to look the other way when the context is sexual violence against children by illegal aliens, but not when the context is immigration enforcement by federal officers.”Speaking to reporters about Minnesota’s lawsuit last week, Mr. Abbott said that he does not trust Mr. Walz “on anything, let alone something like this.”Mr. Abbott said he wants Minnesota officials to “step up and repay the United States of America and Americans for all the fraud they have committed in their state under federal programs.”The Texas governor’s comment likely alludes to a June House Oversight Committee report alleging that Mr. Walz and Mr. Ellison were “aware of widespread taxpayer fraud in federally funded social programs for years” and declined to stop the fraud. Mr. Ellison called the allegations “unfounded,” and a spokesman for Mr. Walz called the committee a “joke.”A hearing for the matter is scheduled for Tuesday.

Abbott Asks Federal Court To Reject Minnesota’s Effort To Force ‘Rushed’ Extradition of ICE Agent

Abbott Asks Federal Court To Reject Minnesota’s Effort To Force ‘Rushed’ Extradition of ICE Agent

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