Minnesota leaders on Tuesday sued Gov. Greg Abbott to force the extradition of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who is accused of injuring a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year and lying about the circumstance leading up to the shooting.
The federal lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Texas, is the latest step in a monthslong effort by Minnesota officials to take custody of 52-year-old Christian Castro, who faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
Federal law requires states to cooperate on extradition requests, according to the lawsuit.
“Abbott’s refusal to extradite Castro is unconstitutional and violates federal law and Texas law,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “I will not stand for that, so I’m taking Abbott to court.”
Abbott’s office initially declined to comment on “pending extradition matters.” But when asked about the lawsuit during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, the governor was dismissive.
“While they’re making demands, I got a demand of my own and that is: It’s time for Minnesota to step up and repay the United States of America and Americans for all the fraud that they have committed in their state under federal programs,” Abbott said. “I will not respond to them at all until they step up and do what’s right, and they acknowledge their fault in the fraud that took place, and they fully repay the United States of America for the fraud they committed.”
The Trump administration also justified Operation Metro Surge, a major immigration enforcement crackdown that began in Minnesota in late 2025, by connecting it to a welfare fraud scandal in the state’s social programs. The operation led to several shootings by immigration agents, including two that killed U.S. citizens.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced the charges against Castro on May 18, about four months after he allegedly fired into an occupied home during Operation Metro Surge and hit Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg. Castro told federal investigators that Sosa-Celis and another man had attacked him with a shovel and a broom, but surveillance camera footage contradicted the ICE agent’s account, according to court documents.
The Texas Rangers helped arrest Castro in Cameron County in late May, prompting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to send the extradition request to his Texas counterpart.
Abbott has on average signed a rendition warrant agreeing to Minnesota’s requests in around 30 days but has not done so in this case, Minnesota officials said.
Last week, Ellison sent a letter asking Abbott to sign the legal document for Castro’s extradition by Monday afternoon or face legal action.
“The duty to extradite is ministerial and non-discretionary,” Ellison added in the letter. “Federal courts have the power to enforce a governor’s duty to extradite a fugitive, and a governor ‘has no power to refuse to extradite a fugitive based on the merits of the fugitive’s case.’”
In Tuesday’s lawsuit, the Minnesota attorney general called the decision to not sign the paperwork in Castro’s case “unusual and inconsistent” with typically prompt cooperation between the two states. Ellison said Abbott’s office complied with extradition requests from Minnesota for several other unrelated defendants — including a person with the same charge as Castro — in recent months.
The need for action is growing, the lawsuit said, because Texas cannot hold someone awaiting extradition for longer than 90 days. The lawsuit also named Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino to prevent the South Texas sheriff’s office from releasing Castro before he is turned over to Minnesota’s custody.
“If Defendants are permitted to release Castro from custody before turning him over to agents of Minnesota for extradition, there is a substantial risk that Castro will flee and avoid prosecution in Minnesota,” the lawsuit said.
Trevino didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
This was not the first time Minnesota officials have filed a legal challenge related to their efforts to prosecute the shooting of Sosa-Celis.
In March, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the state of Minnesota sued the federal government for access to evidence related to Sosa-Celis’ case as well as the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in January.
In addition, when Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare launched an investigation into the July fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent in Houston, he said he contacted Hennepin County prosecutors.
“No one is more familiar with these kinds of situations than them,” Teare said last month.
