Texas Gov Abbott Allows Fugitive ICE Agent to Walk Free b/c He is Wanted in Minnesota for Shooting a Defenseless Non-White Immigrant, which is Conduct that Racists Support

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of shooting an unarmed man in Minneapolis and then lying about the incident walked free from a jail in Texas on Thursday as Gov. Greg Abbott refuses to honor Minnesota’s extradition request.

Christian Castro, 52, was released from the Cameron County jail shortly after dawn, roughly three months after his May 29 arrest on a Minnesota warrant. Castro faces four felony counts of second-degree assault and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime.

Hennepin County, Minnesota prosecutors allege that Castro fired through the front door of a Minneapolis home, striking 24-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Julio César Sosa-Celis in the leg on January 14 during the Operation Metro Surge enforcement blitz in the Twin Cities Area, part of the Trump administration’s deadly mass deportation effort.

Castro claimed afterward that Sosa-Celis and another man had attacked an ICE officer with a broom and snow shovel—an account investigators say was contradicted by surveillance footage, witness statements, and physical evidence. Criminal charges initially filed against Sosa-Celis were later dismissed. [MORE]