BROWNSVILLE — An immigration officer could be released from a South Texas jail later this week despite Minnesota's efforts to extradite the man to face criminal charges related to a January shooting, a federal judge indicated during a Tuesday hearing.
Minnesota officials last week sued to force Gov. Greg Abbott to sign paperwork allowing Christian Castro, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who was arrested May 29 on four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime, to be returned to Minnesota.
People awaiting extradition in Texas cannot be held longer than 90 days. Castro, who has been in jail since his arrest, reaches that deadline Thursday.
Minnesota officials asked U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. to issue an order keeping Castro jailed while extradition efforts continued, arguing he posed a flight risk if released.
At an hourlong hearing Tuesday in Brownsville, the judge said he was "not inclined" to order the Cameron County sheriff to continue holding Castro beyond Thursday, adding that a written order could come Wednesday.
Texas Rangers helped arrest Castro in May after a Minnesota court issued a warrant charging him with assault when he fired through the door of a house, hitting a Venezuelan man in the leg. He also was charged with lying about the incident when he claimed the man had attacked him with a shovel and broom. Footage of the incident contradicted Castro's account, court documents said.
Abbott has not yet agreed to extradite Castro. Instead, the governor ordered the Texas secretary of state's office to investigate whether Castro qualifies as a fugitive.
That question, according to state officials, stems from reports that Castro didn't flee Minnesota but was reassigned to Texas by ICE.
During Tuesday's hearing, attorneys for Minnesota argued that how Castro ended up in Texas was irrelevant and that the investigation into whether he is a fugitive has no basis in law.
They also argued that Abbott has a duty to make Castro available for extradition under the Extradition Clause of the Constitution, which they said is meant to preclude any state from becoming a sanctuary for fugitives of another state.
Attorneys for Texas said the U.S. Supreme Court determined that a governor has the authority to determine whether someone qualifies as a fugitive from justice. The state, they told Rodriguez, is working diligently to make that determination.
In a court brief filed Monday, lawyers for Abbott argued that Castro's freedom would have "no effect on the Governor's ability to issue a warrant to extradite."
"The ninety-day period limits pre-warrant detention; it does not impose a ninety-day deadline on the Governor to approve or deny the demanding State's request," they told the court.
In Tuesday's hearing, Rodriguez questioned whether he had the authority to set a time limit for Texas officials to conduct their investigation.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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