An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday, after a judge declined to order his return to Minnesota.

Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville.

He gestured toward a cluster of camera operators and a reporter encircling him, then swiftly climbed into an SUV that drove off.

The day before, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. noted in a written order that he was unable to stop a county sheriff from releasing Castro or to force Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign his extradition warrant.

Castro faces charges in Minnesota for assault and filing a false police report in connection with the January 14 shooting of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Castro is accused of discharging a firearm through the front door of a Minneapolis residence, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg.

Prosecutors allege that Castro also falsely claimed Sosa-Celis and another individual had assaulted an ICE officer using a broom handle and a snow shovel.

Following a Minnesota judge's issuance of a nationwide warrant for Castro's arrest in May, authorities—including Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension—apprehended him in Cameron County on May 29.

Although Minnesota authorities have sought his extradition since his arrest, he remained in custody in Brownsville, a city adjacent to the Mexican border.

Under Texas law and barring extradition, Castro was required to be released after 90 days of detention, which fell on Thursday.

Minnesota officials harbor suspicions that Castro might endeavor to flee to Mexico.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a motion for a temporary restraining order last week, seeking either to prevent Castro’s release or to mandate his return to the state.

On Tuesday, Texas attorneys argued that the judge could not rule on a decision still pending.

Abbott has not refused extradition; instead, he awaits the outcome of an internal state investigation into whether Castro legally qualified as a "fugitive" under the Extradition Clause, the lawyers said.

In Wednesday’s order, the judge asserted that the court was not yet in a position to intervene.

The order stated that the Court concluded it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the case was not ripe for adjudication, and that Minnesota could not base its causes of action on the allegation that Governor Abbott might violate those authorities in the future; rather, it had to prove that a violation had already occurred.

In his order, the judge noted that the extradition statutes do not specify a timeframe within which the Texas governor must render a decision.

Abbott stated last week that he would not respond to the extradition request, citing the ongoing investigation into fraud in Minnesota's government social service programs, an issue that President Donald Trump used to justify his immigration crackdown in the state.

Following the judge's ruling, Ellison took to social media to assert that the Texas governor was duty-bound to extradite Castro, and that by declining to do so, "Greg Abbott is turning Texas into a sanctuary state for violent criminals."

Abbott articulated a formal reply to Ellison.

"You are utterly incompetent as legal counsel. You arrived completely unprepared, ill-informed, and unconvincing," Abbott wrote online.

"Your knowledge of the law is clearly lacking, and it showed."

The Texas governor accused Minnesota of failing to enforce immigration laws and warned that he would send migrants there in the future, as he had done with New York City, where thousands were released into Texas under President Joe Biden's administration.

A request for comment from Ellison was dispatched to his office on Thursday.

Minnesota officials argue that Castro could flee the country, citing phone calls he made from jail to a woman in Mexico, in which he talked about "marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released," according to the lawsuit.

The judge conceded that Castro could leave the country but added that "the threat of injury by itself does not create an issue ripe for adjudication."