ICE officer charged in Minneapolis shooting released in Texas after immediate extradition rejected

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.

Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off.

A day earlier, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. wrote that he couldn't prevent a county sheriff from releasing Castro, nor could he order Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign his extradition warrant.

Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Castro allegedly fired through the front door of a Minneapolis home, wounding Sosa-Celis in the leg. Prosecutors say Castro also falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

After a Minnesota judge issued a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest in May, authorities, including Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, arrested Castro in Cameron County on May 29. Minnesota authorities then sought his extradition as he remained in custody in Brownsville, a city bordering Mexico.

Texas law required him to be released after 90 days if he was not extradited, which Abbott has so far refused to allow.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison had sought a temporary restraining order to block Castro’s release, warning that he could flee to Mexico. Minnesota's filing cited calls Castro made from jail to a woman in Mexico, talking “about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released."

The judge conceded in Wednesday's order that Castro could flee the country but said “the threat of injury by itself does not create an issue ripe for adjudication.”

Texas attorneys on Tuesday argued the judge could not rule on a decision that’s still pending. Abbott has not denied the extradition. Instead he is waiting for the outcome of an internal state investigation considering whether Castro was legally a “fugitive” under the Extradition Clause, the lawyers said.

“The Court concludes that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the case is not ripe for adjudication,” the judge's order read. “Minnesota cannot premise its causes of action on the allegation that Governor Abbott may violate those authorities in the future; it must prove that a violation has already occurred.”

The judge said in his order that the extradition laws do not outline how long the Texas governor can take to make that decision.

Abbott said last week he would not respond to the extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in government social service programs in Minnesota, which President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown there.

After the judge's decision, Ellison posted online that the Texas governor had an obligation to extradite Castro — and that instead, “Greg Abbott is turning Texas into a sanctuary state for violent criminals.”

Abbott responded to Ellison online as well.

“You guys are such bad lawyers. You showed up unprepared, uninformed & unpersuasive,” Abbott wrote online. “You don’t know the law & it showed.”

The Texas governor accused Minnesota of refusing to enforce immigration laws and threatened to send immigrants in the future to their state as he did with New York City, when thousands were released into Texas under President Joe Biden's administration.

A message seeking reaction from Ellison was sent to his office Thursday.

Valerie Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.

The Carrizalez-Rucker Cameron County Detention Center, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro was held, is shown in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)

Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Treviño speaks during a news conference outside of the Carrizalez-Rucker Cameron County Detention Center shortly after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro was released in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)

A vehicle waits outside of the Carrizalez-Rucker Cameron County Detention Center for the release of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro gets into a car surrounded by news reporters moments after being released from the Carrizalez-Rucker Cameron County Detention Center in Brownsville, Texas on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)

FILE - Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty holds up a document containing charges against ICE agent Christian Castro during a news conference at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Renée Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP,File)

MIAMI (AP) — Social media influencer Tristan Tate took the witness stand in federal court on Thursday and said he and his brother Andrew can’t adequately defend themselves from criminal sex charges if they have to remain in a Miami jail while fighting extradition to the United Kingdom.

Lawyers for the Tates are asking a judge to allow them to be freed from custody at least until an extradition hearing can be held on their U.K. rape and trafficking charges. They have remained in a federal detention center in Miami since they were arrested July 18.

Prosecutors said they appear to have money and have bragged about multiple passports. Their attorneys argued that their high profile and active social media presence make it nearly impossible for them to flee and they have shown they won't run through cooperating in a separate sex crime case in Romania.

The Tates have become among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities by promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny through their social media empire.

Andrew Tate, 39, has said women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for the attacks and shared graphic descriptions of how he might attack women. Tristan Tate, 38, has worked with his brother on multiple businesses, including the production of online webcam pornography.

No date for an extradition hearing has been set. The U.K. has until mid-September to provide evidence to the State Department.

On his way into court Thursday, defense attorney Joseph McBride told reporters he hasn’t heard of a case where U.S. Magistrate Lauren Louis has allowed someone out on bail while awaiting an extradition hearing.

But while the odds aren’t in their favor, McBride felt like the truth was. He called them innocent, good men who have never run from the law.

In court, Tristan Tate was called to the stand Thursday and said he can't prove he is innocent if he is kept in jail.

“I need to clear my name. I need to take part in these proceedings, I can’t do that from the secure housing unit," he said.

Tristan Tate also complained of conditions at the Miami jail. He said there are ants and the only toilet in his cell is where anyone walking by can see him. He said he has lost 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms) eating mostly junk food in the nearly six weeks he has been in custody.

The brothers were wearing tan prison clothes and shackled for Thursday’s hearing.

Their lawyers said the U.K.’s request was out of line because their criminal case in Romania is going first. Romanian officials have let them remain free until the proceedings conclude and they have not tried to flee and are complying with all court restrictions.

The judge reminded defense attorneys she has to follow U.S. laws.

Attorneys for the Tates said they largely exaggerated their claims of wealth to boost their social media personas, their claims of multiple passports were satirical and a “$50-million-dollar superyacht” featured in one of the brothers' videos does not actually belong to them. The expensive luxury cars, including a $2.1 million Aston Martin, that were featured in other videos were rented, the defense says.

The brothers have long claimed that their violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.

“That is not the real Andrew Tate, the person Andrew Tate," said his lawyer Howard Srebnick, who in court Thursday compared Tate on social media to Sacha Baron Cohen's confrontational Ali G character.

The former professional kickboxers, who have dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have millions of social media followers and are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump. The White House has said the brothers shouldn’t expect any help from the president.

Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Attorney Joseph McBride, right, who represents Andrew and Tristan Tate as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom on charges of rape and sex trafficking, speaks to news media before a bond hearing at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Azeneth Gregoira, a supporter of Andrew and Tristan Tate, holds a sign supporting the brothers outside the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse before a bond hearing as the Tates fight extradition to the United Kingdom on rape and sex trafficking charges, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Attorneys Joseph McBride, center, and Andrew Ford, right, who represent Andrew and Tristan Tate as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom on charges of rape and sex trafficking, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, arrive for a bond hearing at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Attorney Joseph McBride, right, who represents Andrew and Tristan Tate as they fight extradition to the United Kingdom on charges of rape and sex trafficking, speaks to the news media before a bond hearing at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)