Weekend Reformer: Indicted ICE agent appears in Minnesota court

Good morning, Reformers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro, who shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg through the front door of a north Minneapolis home in January, drove up to Minnesota from Texas this week to appear in both state and federal court. 

Castro is facing state charges for unjustifiably shooting Sosa-Celis and lying about the circumstances of the shooting, plus federal charges for lying about the circumstances of the shooting — though not for the shooting itself. The federal charges against Castro are far less severe than the civil rights violations originally sought by local federal prosecutors, one of whom was fired and is now being investigated by the Justice Department for his handling of the case, according to reporting from the Associated Press. 

I reported from both his initial appearance in Hennepin County District Court Thursday and his initial appearance in federal court in St. Paul Friday, where he pleaded guilty to federal charges. 

Minnesota prosecutors had fought for months to get Castro into court, unsuccessfully suing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for blocking Castro’s extradition from a Texas jail to Minnesota. It appears what finally brought him to Minnesota was the order that he appear in federal court here, though Castro’s lawyer said in court that he would have preferred extradition to Minnesota to sitting in jail in Texas. 

One gossipy tidbit I noted when listening to the attorneys’ bail arguments: Minnesota prosecutors have said that Castro made 394 jail calls in roughly 80 days to a woman in Mexico, during which he expressed his intention to marry her and buy a house in Mexico to retire. Prosecutors used the jail calls to argue that Castro is a flight risk. 

Later, Castro’s attorney said that Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents arrested Castro as he was parking his car with his wife. 

I’m sitting there wondering: So how many jail calls did Castro make to his wife, and did they argue on the long drive up from southern Texas? 

The judge decided on $200,000 bail with conditions, which Castro accepted.

Michelle wrote a deep dive on Tommy Merickel, the right-hand man of Minnesota’s richest man — Star Tribune owner Glen Taylor. Merickel is backing Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth’s campaign for governor. 

2,300 immigrants arrested in Operation Metro Surge were eventually deported or left the country, according to updated ICE data I analyzed. The updated data shows more immigrants deported to Laos and Somalia than prior data, including a couple dozen men who were arrested during the surge, detained for two months, and then deported to Laos. 

Unionized doctors at Allina Health’s Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity campus in Fridley held a four-day strike in what’s believed to be the first walkout by private-sector hospital doctors in U.S. history, Max Nesterak reported. 

Early voting began Friday. Minnesota faith leaders gathered Thursday at the State Capitol pledging to protect the right to vote and to have votes properly counted, Izzy Wagener reported. 

Minneapolis Public Schools is taking the first steps toward closing as many as 16 school buildings after years of declining enrollment has left it with an expansive real estate portfolio that includes more than 12,000 empty desks, Melissa Whitler reported. 

The Minneapolis City Council is considering a proposal to effectively ban driverless robotaxis, as several council members push to protect the jobs of more than 10,000 rideshare drivers in the state, Max reported. 

Minnesotans bought over $150 million worth of recreational cannabis products in the first year of sales at state-licensed stores, I reported. For comparison, around $4.5 billion of alcohol was purchased in Minnesota in fiscal year 2025. 

A pair of Minnesota healthcare providers published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine detailing the impact of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on their patients, Madi McVan reported. 

A federal judge who issued several critical rulings of the Trump administration during Operation Metro Surge last winter told The New York Times in a rare interview that the federal government’s actions during the crackdown “created a grave threat to the rule of law.” Michelle summarized the report.

John Boehler at the ACLU-MN and Alicia Granse at Groundwork Legal wrote that police surveillance technology requires strong guardrails and public oversight and accountability, and that the public needs to be educated about the potential for misuse of drones, license plate readers and other surveillance. 

Health economist Thomas Lane argued that the public option healthcare proposal — called “Medicare for all who want it” by the moderate Democrats who tend to support it — has worse prospects than a single-payer system and may even be worse than the status quo. 

Becky Rom, the national chair of Save the Boundary Waters, traced the history of the actions that preserved a roadless wilderness in northern Minnesota. 

Kari Lutes, a Kentucky native who lives in Minnesota, wrote that not dismissing or condescending to the South is critical for people looking to advance liberal ideals in the country. 

And, ICYMI: Our editor Patrick Coolican’s rant on the Chamber of Commerce receiving an award for its actions during the immigration crackdown, in our Monday newsletter. 

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