A federal judge declined on Wednesday to intervene in a politically sensitive extradition fight over an ICE agent facing charges in Minnesota who is currently detained in Texas.
The judge said he lacked authority over a lawsuit brought by Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz last week that aimed to keep the agent behind bars for now because he didn’t think there was evidence that Texas’ governor had violated federal law by not extraditing the agent yet, as Walz argued.
The ruling comes a day before Texas may be able to release the agent, Christian Castro, as GOP Gov. Greg Abbott continues to mull the extradition request made to him in June.
In addition to not ordering officials to keep Castro behind bars, Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr., an appointee of President Donald Trump, also handed Walz a loss by not directly ordering Texas to hand the agent over to officials in Minnesota so he can face charges stemming from the shooting of an immigrant in Minneapolis area earlier this year.
“Minnesota cannot premise its causes of action on the allegation that Governor Abbott may” violate extradition laws in the future, Rodriguez, Jr. wrote in the ruling. “The record before the court … reveals that Governor Abbott has not denied the request for a rendition warrant.”
