Too Fun to File: MN Sues Texas. Abbott Offers Deal.

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

You have to hand it to Minnesota's Democrat establishment. At least, that's what they claim in federal court. 

Tim Walz may have retired after the exposure of billions lost in massive frauds during his two terms as governor. Attorney General Keith Ellison still wants to run for another term, however, even though his office somehow never discovered the fraud – and Ellison rubbed elbows with a few of its perpetrators. Even in the Twin Cities, voters might tend to look for an alternative if Ellison's massive incompetence and/or corruption becomes the focus of the election. 

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What is a corruptocrat to do under these circumstances? Ellison has chosen to file a splashy lawsuit to refocus attention on ICE and immigration enforcement. He has sued Greg Abbott and the state of Texas to extradite an ICE agent facing ginned-up charges filed by the equally incompetent/corrupt Hennepin County DA Mary Moriarty. It's a desperate bid to avoid accountability for the billions of dollars that vanished in a shocking number of fraud schemes:

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, alleging the governor is refusing to extradite a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged with shooting an immigrant during Operation Metro Surge.

Christian Castro, 52, is facing four counts of assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime related to a Jan. 14 incident in which prosecutors allege he fired through the front door of a Minneapolis home he knew was occupied.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Ellison have sent letters to Abbott urging him to sign off on the officer’s extradition after Castro was charged in May. Last week, Ellison warned Abbott he would sue if he did not authorize Castro’s extradition by the end of the day Monday.

“This is not some accidental thing,” Ellison said in a Tuesday news conference announcing the lawsuit. “This is a choice.”

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This is a nonsense lawsuit. Even assuming that Castro may have committed a crime, Hennepin County and Minnesota do not have jurisdiction over ICE operations. Castro would file a motion to have the case moved to federal court, a process that is both well-established and designed to prevent exactly what Ellison and Moriarty are trying to do here – use local powers to obstruct federal officers in their official capacity. A federal court would eventually take jurisdiction of the case, and the Department of Justice would almost certainly decline to prosecute it. 

Nonetheless, Texas must answer the lawsuit and will likely cite the lack of jurisdiction to argue that the extradition claim has no merit. However, Greg Abbott has decided to offer a deal. He'll extradite Castro if Ellison and Walz fully reimburse US taxpayers for the federal funds Walz and Ellison let evaporate in the Twin Cities:

Does Ellison want to explain to Minnesota voters why they're suddenly nine billion dollars in the hole just to get Castro back for a trial that will never take place? Let's call that unlikely. 

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More to the point, though, Abbott has punctured Ellison's attempt to play a shell game in Minnesota's election. Ellison pulled this stunt to distract voters from fraud, only to have Abbott checkmate that strategy by forcing its discussion into the stunt. Ellison may want to keep pushing this as a distraction, but now every mention of it will have the fraud attached to it. 

Ellison will likely win reelection anyway, given the radical nature of the Twin Cities electorate. A little humiliation along the way may be the only fun we get. 

Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | August 18, 2026
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