Minnesota Sues Texas Governor Over Refusal to Extradite ICE Agent

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of ICE agent Christian Castro, who faces charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime during the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year. 

Castro was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, in May for his involvement in the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Minneapolis prosecutors allege that Castro shot at the front door of a home, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg and lodging a bullet in a child’s bedroom wall, before giving false information to an officer about it. 

Castro was arrested in Texas in May, but under Texas law, he could be released next week as he can only be held for 90 days. He could then potentially leave the U.S. since he’s being held near the Mexican border.  

“Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said at a news conference Tuesday. “He must face justice in Minnesota. Gov. Abbott should have granted Gov. Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now.”

“Christian Castro is not above the law and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison added. “We have to take the position that they are refusing to honor the extradition request.”

This “should be a completely unnecessary lawsuit,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at the press conference, noting that local prosecutors and officials at the jail were “very cooperative” and that Texas has extradited three unrelated criminal defendants to Minnesota at the state’s request.

Abbott, a Republican, is a staunch supporter of President Trump and the administration’s mass deportation agenda. He could very well be holding off on the extradition because the White House doesn’t want ICE agents to face prosecution, no matter what crimes they commit. 

A federal judge has allowed President Trump to end Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians, placing 5,000 people who immigrated to the United States at risk of deportation. 

Ethiopians first received TPS designation in 2022—in the midst of a war between the Ethiopian government and the people of the northern Tigray region. Any Ethiopians under TPS must now leave the country in 60 days or risk being deported. 

The decision follows a 6–3 June Supreme Court decision that federal courts do not have the ability to review TPS decisions made by the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy lifted the last remaining block on the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for Ethiopians. The case is expected to continue, however, as defendants try to prove DHS’s decision was motivated by racial or nation of origin animus.  

This is yet another attack on Black and African immigrants, as the Trump administration ended TPS for Haitians earlier this month, placing over 300,000 people at risk of being deported back to an untenable situation in Haiti. 

These people have been in the U.S. for years, have established lives, and have worked in their communities. Now they are being forced to return to a region the U.S. still advises its own citizens to “reconsider” traveling to.

People from Ethiopia, Haiti, South Sudan, Burma, Somalia, Cameroon, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nepal, and Honduras have now all had their TPS protections revoked.

Charlie Kirk’s former allies can’t stop fighting amongst themselves.

An analysis by Media Matters found that a debate between Candace Owens and Andrew Wilson that was moderated by Patrick Bet-David and that focused on conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder earned at least 7.2 million views combined across those creators’ livestreams as of Monday.

Media Matters also found at least 58 other YouTube and Rumble channels that either aired or reacted live to the debate earned at least 3.9 million views.

Creators are able to make money through partnerships with platforms that grant them a cut of advertising revenue. On platforms like YouTube, viewers are able to send cash tips to creators during a livestream.

Owens’s YouTube stream received more than 4.7 million views, the most of any stream. For months, the right-wing podcaster has cashed in on pushing conspiracy theories about Kirk’s assassination. She was able to grow her platform by 80 percent between January 2025 and March 2026.

Wilson, a comparatively small-time conservative commentator, reportedly offered Owens $300,000 just to participate in the debate. By tying himself to Owens, the center of the conspiracy theory universe, Wilson is able to boost his still-growing platform.

Who won the debate? They both did. Who lost? Everyone else.

Mike Caruso, appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the Palm Beach County clerk of courts, was arrested Tuesday morning for child sexual abuse charges.

The alleged victim was one of his grandchildren, a boy under 12 years old. According to a probable cause affidavit, the alleged abuse began in 2024 and went on until at least 2025. Caruso is charged with five felonies: kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse (mental injury).

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a statement announcing the arrest, with DeSantis suspending Caruso from public office shortly thereafter. Caruso is being held without bail in the Orange County Jail pending an appearance before a judge.

“Early this morning, with substantial assistance from FDLE and local law enforcement, Palm Beach County Clerk of Court Michael Caruso was arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse,” Uthmeier said. “The investigation is ongoing, and we will provide more information to the public at the appropriate time.”

Caruso’s son became aware of the abuse in October last year when he saw his son engaging in sexual activity with his younger brother, the affidavit states. After the father stopped the activity, the boy told him that his grandfather had showered with him on a cruise and performed a sex act. The child later told investigators that Caruso had molested him days before Thanksgiving the previous year.

Upon being confronted by his son, Caruso said he had showered with all of his own children, but not the alleged victim. Caruso asked his son if he had spoken with Caruso’s former wife, whom he called “evil” and said she could have “fabricated the allegations in an effort to poison the child against him,” according to the affidavit.

Caruso was appointed to his position by DeSantis in August last year, and was running for reelection in November before his arrest. He did not have any Republican challengers, and was running uncontested in Tuesday’s primary election. It’s not clear if he’ll be on the general election ballot in three months. DeSantis’s allies and supporters have a history of using the “groomer” slur against their opponents, accusing them of pedophilia. Now, one of his own appointees is facing criminal charges.

President Trump, who has staunchly opposed mail-in voting as part of his delusions of mass voter fraud, voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary elections Tuesday, according to The New York Times.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that mail-in voting is not secure. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” the president said in March. This is at least the third time Trump has voted by mail since he began railing against the practice.

In March, Trump voted by mail-in ballot during a special election in Palm Beach. When pressed on his decision to engage in the supposedly fraudulent act of mail-in voting, Trump claimed that it was important for him to stay in Washington D.C.—but the president had journeyed back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach earlier that month. He’d also previously voted by mail in 2020.

Terrified of Republican losses in November’s midterm elections, Trump has spent months unsuccessfully lobbying his allies to pass the draconian SAVE Act, which promises to ban mail-in voting.

Last week, Trump mulled the possibility of declaring a national security emergency in order to place limits on mail-in ballots and impose a slate of other voting restrictions.

Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order requiring the U.S. Postal Service to bar any person not included on a massive federal voter list from receiving a mail-in or absentee ballot. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Democratic lawsuit challenging the order was premature.