Greg Abbott told Tim Walz to return $9 billion in stolen children's food money before he'd hand over one ICE agent.
Walz refused – and went to federal court instead.
And a federal judge humiliated Tim Walz and Keith Ellison over an ICE agent’s extradition.
The Case Walz Built on Political Revenge
Christian Castro is an ICE agent who fired his weapon during Operation Metro Surge in January – a mass enforcement action Trump launched after a wave of fraud scandals exposed billions in missing federal money under Walz's administration.
Castro fired through a closed door during the operation, hitting a Venezuelan man inside the home.
Walz and Hennepin County DA Mary Moriarty immediately charged him with four felony counts of second-degree assault and demanded Texas hand him over.
Greg Abbott said no.
Abbott's position was simple: Castro isn't a fugitive – ICE ordered him back to his home base in Texas after the operation concluded.
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2092973616317030770?s=20
You can't extradite a man for fleeing justice when the federal government sent him home.
Walz sued.
Keith Ellison sued.
The whole left-wing legal machine fired up because an ICE agent who enforced immigration law in Minneapolis had to be punished – and they needed him in Moriarty's courtroom to do it.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. shut them down.
What the Judge Actually Ruled
Rodriguez – a Trump appointee in the Southern District of Texas – didn't throw out the extradition request on the merits.
He did something more devastating to Walz.
He ruled Minnesota hadn't even proven there was a case ripe for adjudication because Abbott hasn't formally refused to extradite Castro.
He's still reviewing it.
Under the Constitution and federal extradition law, Rodriguez wrote, there is no deadline for a governor to act on an extradition request.
"Neither the Extradition Clause nor either statute at issue contains such a requirement," Rodriguez ruled.
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2092718194842878417?s=20
Translation: Abbott can take as long as he wants – and there is nothing Walz or Ellison can do about it.
Minnesota's emergency restraining order was denied outright.
Castro's 90-day Texas detention limit expires Thursday.
He walks.
What Walz Forgot to Mention
Abbott offered to settle this weeks ago.
Send Castro back, he said, and first return the $9 billion in federal money that fraudsters drained from government programs during Walz's tenure.
Walz said nothing.
That $9 billion figure is Abbott's accounting of the full damage – and separate investigations are already confirming the scale of the rot underneath it.
Kash Patel and the FBI surged resources into Minnesota to pursue the Feeding Our Future scandal – a $250 million scheme in which organizers submitted fraudulent meal counts and invented child recipients to pocket federal food aid meant for real kids.
Seventy-eight people indicted.
Fifty-seven convicted.
Patel called it the tip of the iceberg.
Walz called it a political attack.
This is the man demanding that Greg Abbott comply with routine extradition law.
Why This Matters Beyond One Courtroom
Walz and Ellison framed this entire case as a constitutional crisis.
After the ruling, Ellison said that if governors can "cherry-pick" extraditions, no state can hold fugitive criminals accountable.
That's rich coming from the attorney general of a state that spent years shielding illegal immigrants from federal enforcement, fought Operation Metro Surge in court, and is now pursuing the ICE agent who carried out Trump's border agenda in their backyard.
This case was never about justice.
It was about sending a message to every ICE agent in America: enforce the law in Minnesota and we will destroy you.
Abbott refused to play along.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2092975511425188152?s=20
Rodriguez said the law wasn't on Minnesota's side.
And now Castro is free while Walz has to explain $9 billion in missing federal money without a political win to change the subject.
The removal motion is still coming.
If Castro's defense team moves the case to federal court – which they have every right to do since he was on federal duty at the time of the shooting – the Department of Justice handles prosecution instead of Mary Moriarty.
Moriarty, who has made her contempt for ICE public and explicit, doesn't get her show trial.
The DOJ then decides whether the shooting and a separate charge of falsely reporting a crime warrant federal prosecution – charges that carry far less exposure than what Moriarty has in mind.
Tim Walz wanted a scalp.
A federal judge just handed it back.
Sources:
- Ed Morrissey, "Surprise: Federal Court Slaps Down Walz Over ICE Agent Extradition," HotAir, August 26, 2026.
- "Judge Won't Order Texas to Turn ICE Officer Over to Minnesota for Prosecution," The Washington Times, August 26, 2026.
- Brooke Mallory, "Federal Judge Blocks Minnesota's Attempt to Force Extradition of Texas ICE Agent," One America News Network, August 26, 2026.
- "AG Keith Ellison Sues Texas Governor for Failure to Extradite ICE Agent Charged with Assault," Minnesota Attorney General's Office, August 18, 2026.
- "FBI Surges Resources to Minnesota, Director Patel Calls $250M Fraud Scheme Tip of Iceberg," Fox News.
- "House GOP Subpoenas Tim Walz Over $250M COVID Fraud Scheme, Minnesota Nonprofit," Fox News.