Minnesota has been fighting for the longest time to override Texas's laws surrounding the incarceration of ICE agent Christian Castro. But a judge just reminded it that all the requests in the world from Gov. Tim Walz will fall on deaf ears when they don’t make any sense.
As you know by this point, Minnesota has been showing absolute fury against ICE agents. Ever since President Donald Trump ordered agents to enter the state to arrest violent illegal immigrants, Mayor Jacob Frey has been pushing back, riling up his citizens to angrily protest their every move.
Since that time, we’ve seen a number of shootings after citizens went on the attack against ICE agents. Renee Good, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and Alex Pretti were all killed trying to act against ICE while they were trying to do their job. And rather than coordinating efforts with them, Frey actually made things even worse – at one point even saying that ICE needs to get the (censored) out of our city.”
Earlier this year, an arrest warrant was issued for ICE officer Christian Castro by the state, who was taken into custody shortly thereafter in Cameron County, Texas. He was formally charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime after being accused of firing into a Minneapolis home and striking a Venezuelan national’s leg.
Now, this is an incident that could’ve easily been put under investigation by the Department of Justice, but Minnesota decided to push the matter into overdrive. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had been demanding the extradition of Castro to the state, and even making such demands as public as possible to look good for his audience.
Following suit, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit last week, citing that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott needed to pay attention to the request at hand, and demanded the judge issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Cameron County from releasing Castro.
“Gov. Abbott’s withholding of the rendition warrant threatens to deprive Minnesota of its constitutional right to Castro’s return,” Ellison noted in a public statement again.
Madness, isn’t it? The good news, however, is that Abbott wasn’t having any of it.
“I don’t trust Tim Walz on anything,” Abbott noted last week, a statement I very much agree with. “While they’re making demands, I have a demand of my own: it’s time for Minnesota to step up and repay the United States of America and Americans for all the fraud that they’ve committed in their state through federal programs.”
I love how Gov. Abbott is cooking here, holding their feet to the fire while they try to distract from their dirty deeds by pointing a finger at ICE and saying, “Hey, look at that!”
But it’s a federal judge who delivered the latest blow to the state of Minnesota, calling them out on the same insanity that Abbott saw. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. rejected Minnesota’s requests for a temporary restraining order, allowing Castro to walk free. That’s not to say he won’t face the charges down the road, but this is a step in the right direction.
And I love how Abbott’s office responded. “The court was right to reject Governor Walz’s absurd claim,” his press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, told Fox News. “The Constitution requires deliberate consideration of extradition requests and tasks Gov. Abbott to ‘decide, upon such evidence as he may deem satisfactory’ whether ‘the person demanded is a fugitive. Today’s order rebuffs Minnesota’s efforts to conscript federal courts into commandeering the authority of Governor Abbott’s office.”
Excellent. I love every bit of this decision. Any other state, particularly New York or California, might’ve obliged Walz’s order to please their audience. But Gov. Abbott clearly knew better.
But Ellison was furious. “Minnesota should have never had to file this lawsuit or this motion. Abbott is playing with constitutional fire.”
Funny, Keith, you seem to be playing with fire here. You tried to override the release of a man who has not yet been proven guilty. You were trying to get him unfairly extradited, where he would’ve faced God knows what kind of fury in your home state. And you tried to demand Abbott bend to your knee when, in fact, he has absolutely no reason to.
And get this. Minnesota believes that Castro could flee to Mexico, because he apparently has a “romantic partner” there. That appeared to be their main reasoning behind his transfer.
It’s all just ridiculous at this point. Minnesota is so caught up in its way of the law that it’s doing everything in its power to bend it to get its way. Only one trouble with that – it forgot that Texas doesn’t follow that law and knows exactly what Minnesota is up to. And, for that matter, Tim Walz.
Kudos to you, Gov. Abbott. You’re shining a light of reason and thinking at a time when the leaders of Minnesota clearly have none.
As for Castro, he deserves to have his case heard and investigated. He shouldn’t be punished by being kicked around like a soccer ball by leaders who can’t even answer for their own corruption. I wish him well in his defense.
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