Minnesota asks Abbott to extradite ICE agent in Minneapolis shooting

Hennepin County Attorney Mary F. Moriarty asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a July 30 letter to sign extradition paperwork that would allow Christian Castro, a federal immigration officer charged in a Minneapolis shooting, to be brought to Minnesota to stand trial. Castro, 52, has been held in the Cameron County jail in Texas since Texas Rangers arrested him on May 29, according to the letter. Moriarty wrote that every procedural requirement under Texas and Minnesota law had been met and that the case cannot move forward until Abbott acts.

Castro faces four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. The charges stem from the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis on the night of January 14 in north Minneapolis. The office charged Castro on May 18 and obtained a nationwide warrant, under which he was arrested in Texas 11 days later. A Minnesota judge set bail at $200,000. If convicted on all counts, Castro faces a maximum of more than 28 years in prison, CBS Minnesota reported.

The letter to Abbott

In the letter, Moriarty asked Abbott to review and sign Castro's extradition paperwork and said the process had been carried out under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. She wrote that it had been initiated in full compliance with both states' statutes and that all procedural requirements had been met. The prosecuting authority in Cameron County that helped file the fugitive complaint against Castro, she said, stands ready to present the Texas judge the information needed to order extradition. Moriarty also thanked the Texas Rangers, who she said safely arrested Castro and booked him into the Cameron County jail.

The final step is for you as the Governor to sign the extradition paperwork so that we can proceed with the case in Minnesota. We are asking that you sign the extradition paperwork immediately. Mr. Castro was arrested on May 29, 2026, over 2 months ago.

Abbott's office declined to weigh in. In a statement, it said, 'The Office of the Governor does not comment on pending extradition matters,' according to ABC13 in Houston and the Star Tribune. The decision on whether to release Castro to Minnesota rests with the governor. Abbott's office did not say why the paperwork remained unsigned or whether it intended to act, ABC13 reported. As of August 4, no extradition date had been set, Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino said. Asked to comment, Moriarty's office said, 'We look forward to Mr. Castro arriving in Minnesota to begin court proceedings.'

Interstate extradition is governed by the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act and by the Constitution's Extradition Clause, which the Star Tribune noted bars any state from becoming a sanctuary for fugitives from justice and lets states bring offenders to trial. The practical effect in this case, the newspaper reported, is that Minnesota cannot proceed to trial until Castro is physically in the state, and only Abbott can authorize the transfer. The result is a legal standstill. Castro's case in Hennepin County has not advanced while he remains in Texas custody, according to Moriarty's letter and KSTP.

The criminal complaint alleges that Castro fired a gunshot into the north Minneapolis home 'knowing it was occupied by multiple individuals,' striking Sosa-Celis in the leg, according to FOX 9. Investigators recovered a 9mm shell casing outside the home and traced a bullet path that traveled through the front door and multiple interior walls before lodging in a child's bedroom wall, the station reported from the complaint. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office has said the bullet ended up in the wall of a child's room. Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna were legally in the United States, the Associated Press reported.

The January shooting

The shooting followed a chase, prosecutors said. Castro and another officer pursued Aljorna to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where Aljorna and Sosa-Celis lived, and Castro fired through the front door, striking Sosa-Celis, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. Charging documents describe Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan national, fleeing a traffic stop by federal agents and retreating to his home in north Minneapolis, where he was shot in the leg, KSTP reported. Yahoo News reported that the charges are connected to a federal immigration effort known as Operation Metro Surge.

Castro has said he acted in self-defense. He told the FBI that two people assaulted him, one with a broom and one with a shovel, while he struggled with a man identified as a DoorDash driver, and that he fired before the men entered the home because he feared for his safety, according to court documents cited by CBS Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security initially said Sosa-Celis and others had beaten Castro with a snow shovel and a broom before he fired his gun in self-defense, KSTP reported.

Prosecutors said the account did not hold up. The charging document states that Castro's version of events 'is contradicted by the video of the incident,' along with four other accounts from those involved and physical evidence, according to CBS Minnesota. The City of Minneapolis released video of the shooting that FOX 9 described as undermining federal authorities' account of what happened that night. Court records showed Castro argued he fired in self-defense, but evidence later rebuked that account, Yahoo News reported. Castro remains charged with the five counts filed in May.

A political standoff

The request has put two officials from opposing parties at odds. Abbott, a Republican and an ally of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda, is being asked by Moriarty, a Democratic county attorney, to hand a federal immigration officer to state prosecutors, Yahoo News reported. Texas law enforcement cooperated in the arrest, KSTP noted, but the state's political leadership has not taken the final step to send Castro north. Moriarty's public letter, ABC13 and KSTP reported, was an unusual escalation, because a formal letter of this kind is not typically needed in a routine extradition.

The delay itself is not ordinary, a legal scholar said. Tom Hogan, an assistant professor at South Texas College of Law, told ABC13 that a governor's office signing off on extradition normally happens as a matter of course. He said the process can stretch out and turn contentious when officials disagree politically. The fact that Moriarty sent a formal public letter, Hogan said, signals that a political dispute is holding up a step that is usually routine. Neither Abbott's office nor Moriarty's office has said how long the impasse might last.

It can take some time, and it can be contentious when people have political disagreements, basically.

Castro's roots are in South Texas. He is a resident of the Rio Grande Valley and was arrested at a residence on Sun Chase Drive in Harlingen, according to KRGV and ValleyCentral, and was taken into custody without incident. The Texas Rangers made the arrest on a nationwide warrant issued in Hennepin County, according to FOX 9 and the Star Tribune. Castro was booked into the Cameron County jail, where he has remained through the summer. The case carries local weight in the Rio Grande Valley, where Castro lives, ValleyCentral reported. Sheriff Trevino said no date had been scheduled for his transfer as of early August.

What happens next

For now, the case waits on a single signature. Moriarty has said the extradition paperwork is the only remaining step before Minnesota can begin its prosecution, and she asked Abbott to act immediately. Abbott's office has not said whether or when it will sign, and no extradition date has been set, according to Sheriff Trevino. Castro remains in the Cameron County jail on $200,000 bail. Until he is physically present in Minnesota, the Hennepin County case cannot proceed to trial, the Star Tribune reported. It is not known when the governor will decide.