BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting and wounding a man during the crackdown in Minneapolis then lying about it, could walk free from a Texas jail if a federal judge does not intervene.Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Minnesota authorities have sought Castro’s extradition since his arrest, but he remains in custody in Brownsville, Texas, a city bordering Mexico.A judge said he would announce Wednesday whether he would order Texas to extradite Castro to Minnesota or allow his release.Texas law says he must be released after 90 days of detention, which is Thursday. Minnesota’s governor and attorney general filed a lawsuit asking a judge to compel Texas to extradite Castro and to prevent the sheriff in Cameron County, Texas, from releasing him.
Castro is accused of firing a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg. Prosecutors say Castro also falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.At a federal hearing in Brownsville on Tuesday, attorneys with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office argued it would be hard to compel Castro to face charges in their state if he is released, and they fear Castro may flee the country, citing his phone conversations with a woman who lives in Mexico.
