Minnesota Is Trying To Talk Texas Into Extraditing An Arrested ICE Officer To Face Assault Charges

from the texas-just-out-there-shielding-criminals dept

Will anyone ever hold an ICE officer accountable for shooting or killing someone? Maybe, but it won’t be anyone from this administration — one that has actively blocked state investigators from following up on ICE shootings and even pulled FBI agents from ongoing investigations so ICE can forgive itself for its officers actions.

While ICE continues to engage in violent acts and the administration scrambles to cover for their actions, immigration officers are undermining prosecutions targeting the victims of their violent actions because they can’t stop lying.

And while this seems to be a long shot, maybe we’ll see at least one ICE officer convicted for their criminal acts. It’s not just the jurisdiction issues that lower these odds. And that’s if you just limit it to state vs. federal. In this case, one of Trump’s favorite targets is requesting assistance from one of Trump’s most loyal supporters.

A Minnesota prosecutor is asking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to authorize the extradition of a federal officer who shot and injured an immigrant in Minneapolis in January.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a letter to Abbott that his sign-off is the “final step” in transferring Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro to Minnesota to face state criminal charges.

As long as Trump remains in office, I can’t see Greg Abbott doing the right thing and turning over an ICE agent his state actually arrested using a warrant issued by Minnesota law enforcement.

Castro is facing multiple criminal assault charges for firing into a home and wounding Julio Sosa-Celis. This happened in January, only a few days before immigration officers murdered Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti just four days apart.

The DHS immediately responded with lies that were disproven shortly thereafter.

In the immediate wake of the shooting of Mr. Sosa-Celis, federal officials defended the agents, saying they had been attacked with a broom and shovel. Kristi Noem, who was then the secretary of homeland security, described it as “an attempted murder of federal law enforcement.” Within days, Mr. Sosa-Celis and a housemate, Alfredo A. Aljorna, who was also from Venezuela and involved in the confrontation, were charged with federal felonies.

But aspects of the government’s account soon began to unravel. The charges against both men were dropped, and federal officials said they were instead investigating the agents. Video footage of the incident obtained by The New York Times did not show a sustained attack with a shovel and more broadly contradicted the agent’s claim of a roughly three-minute beating. 

So far, so ICE. But the charges managed to stick, even though the FBI locked state officials out of the investigation almost immediately. More amazingly, Texas law enforcement actually arrested an ICE officer on a Minnesota warrant.

The wheel of justice, etc. But anything going forward depends on a lot of things that don’t work in Minnesota’s favor. First, the Supremacy Clause is a tough hurdle since it can easily block state prosecutors from bringing cases against federal officers. Then there’s the ICE officer himself, who has refused to voluntarily comply with extradition requests. Finally, there’s a man who’s as corrupt as Trump himself — one who’s certainly not going to “export” a jailed ICE cop, especially not to the People’s Republic of Minnesota. But here’s hoping Governor Greg Abbott decides an ICE officer with a Mexican-sounding last name can get out there and “take one for the team.”

Filed Under: christian castro, doj, greg abbott, ice, mary moriarty, minnesota, misconduct, police violence, texas, trump administration