# Christian Castro A federal immigration officer, 52, charged in Minnesota state court and in federal court over the January 14, 2026 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis ([[ICE Shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis]]) during [[Operation Metro Surge]], the administration's Twin Cities enforcement surge. He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. **Neither case has been tried, and every account of the shooting below is what prosecutors allege.** ## The charges - **State (Hennepin County).** Four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime, filed by County Attorney [[Mary Moriarty]]. Prosecutors allege that Castro fired through the front door of a north Minneapolis home, hit Sosa-Celis in the leg, and then reported that two men had come at him with a shovel and a broomstick, an account they say video contradicts. See [[ICE Shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis]]. - **Federal (District of Minnesota).** Six counts of making false statements to investigators, in an indictment unsealed September 3, 2026. It states that "no person struck" Castro "with a broom as he described." The federal charge was narrower than one of the prosecutors on the case wanted. According to ProPublica and the Associated Press, Justice Department prosecutor Matthew Evans had sought a civil-rights (deprivation of rights) charge. He told colleagues the false-statements-only charge was being filed over his "strongest objections" at the direction of Main Justice and the U.S. Attorney. Evans was fired days later, and the Department opened an inquiry into his own conduct. The AP reported that the civil-rights investigation remains open. ## The extradition standoff | Date | Event | |---|---| | May 29, 2026 | Arrested in Texas on the Minnesota warrant by state investigators, Texas Rangers and federal inspectors. ICE had reassigned him to Texas. | | July 31, 2026 | Governor [[Greg Abbott]] tells the Texas Secretary of State he has "serious doubts" Castro is a fugitive at all, arguing he left Minnesota "on orders of the federal government" | | Aug 18, 2026 | Minnesota Attorney General [[Keith Ellison]] sues Abbott to compel extradition | | Aug 27, 2026 | Released from the Cameron County jail as Texas's detention limit runs out, without being surrendered | | Sept 3, 2026 | Federal indictment unsealed; released on a $75,000 unsecured bond with GPS monitoring | | Sept 17, 2026 | He comes to Minnesota for his federal court date and is arrested by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Ellison drops the suit the same day. | | Sept 17–18, 2026 | First state appearance; released on $200,000 conditional bail (no firearms, no witness contact, electronic monitoring, extradition waiver). Pleads not guilty in federal court in St. Paul. | Abbott's office called the dismissal Minnesota's "admission of defeat": "Governor Abbott followed the Constitution. Minnesota tried to commandeer the Governor's authority." Moriarty's answer was that "when you are a fugitive from justice, who has continually refused to come up here to Minnesota, you do not get to dictate how you are taken into custody." ## What comes next Moriarty has said she expects Castro to move the state case to federal court. Federal officers sued in state court can do this under the federal-officer removal statute, and it is usually the first step toward a claim of **Supremacy Clause immunity**: the defense that a federal officer acting within the scope of federal duties cannot be prosecuted by a state for doing so. Her office says it is ready to litigate that. How it comes out will decide whether the [[Fight Against Federal Overreach]] theory, that state criminal law reaches federal immigration agents, survives its first real test ([[Supremacy Clause]]). The extradition fight showed where a sanctuary state's leverage ends. Minnesota could charge a federal agent. It could not make Texas hand him over, and it got custody only because a federal court date brought him back into the state. ## See also - [[ICE Shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis]] · [[Operation Metro Surge]] · [[ICE Minneapolis Killings]] - [[Mary Moriarty]] · [[Keith Ellison]] · [[Greg Abbott]] - [[Fight Against Federal Overreach]] · [[Supremacy Clause]] · [[Sanctuary Jurisdiction]] · [[Anti-Commandeering Doctrine]] - [[ICE]] · [[Department of Justice]]