By Jonathan Allen
Aug 18 (Reuters) - Minnesota sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday to try to compel him to extradite a federal immigration agent facing assault charges for shooting a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minneapolis during last winter's deportation surge.
Christian Castro, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, has been in a Texas county jail near the border with Mexico for nearly three months since he was arrested by Texas Rangers on May 29 on a warrant issued by a Minnesota
judge.
Castro is wanted in Minnesota to face charges for wounding Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on January 14, at the height of U.S. President Donald Trump's deportation surge in Minnesota, which drew weeks of protests.
The case highlights the partisan divide over Trump's immigration policies. Abbott, a fellow Republican, has been a vocal supporter of ICE and Trump's deportation efforts, while Minnesota's Democratic leaders, including Governor Tim Walz, have challenged federal agents' conduct in Minneapolis, where two American citizens were killed by federal agents in January.
The U.S. Constitution and federal law require states to extradite people wanted for crimes in another state, and extradition is usually a routine process. But Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who filed Tuesday's federal lawsuit, said Abbott was "refusing to honor the extradition request" sent by Walz knowing that, under Texas law, Castro must be released from jail after 90 days, which would elapse next week, if Abbott has not signed the rendition warrant.
"Christian Castro could walk free from jail in Texas and flee justice in Minnesota, including by leaving the country," Ellison said at a news conference to announce the lawsuit.
Agathe Cirasa, an Abbott spokesperson, said the governor's office "will not comment on pending extradition matters."
It is rare for county or state prosecutors to charge federal law enforcement officials, but Castro, 52, is the second federal immigration agent to be charged this year by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, the chief state prosecutor in Minneapolis.
Her office charged Castro with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and falsely reporting a crime after his superiors at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security learned his account that Sosa-Celis and others attacked him with a snow shovel and broom was disproved by video evidence. Federal prosecutors dismissed their criminal charges against Sosa-Celis and suspended Castro.
It was not clear whether Castro had a lawyer.
White House officials have defended the conduct of ICE agents and said, incorrectly, that they have absolute immunity from prosecution for breaking state laws while on duty.
Minnesota's lawsuit was filed in the federal courthouse in Brownsville in southern Texas, and asks a judge to order Abbott to sign the rendition warrant for Castro, which Minnesota says is a "mandatory obligation" under the U.S. Constitution and under federal and Texas law.
Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño, who has custody of Castro in his jail, is also named as a respondent. Treviño declined to comment on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
