Eight protesters received sentences of 30 to 100 years in prison on terrorism charges for a 2025 shooting at a Texas ICE facility that wounded a police officer. Benjamin Song received the 100-year maximum. Critics and legal experts call the sentences unusually harsh—exceeding those for Jan. 6 leaders—and part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on dissent and groups labeled "antifa." The prosecution used encrypted messages as evidence in the case.
Alvarado detention center protest
- ▪Some protesters vandalized cars, a guard shack, and a government van in the facility's parking lot
- ▪During the protest, demonstrator Benjamin Song shot and wounded a police officer with an AR-15
- ▪The protest occurred on July 4, 2025, as a noise demonstration to show solidarity with detained immigrants
- ▪The defendants deny any affiliation with antifa, stating they attended to support detained immigrants
Terrorism convictions for protesters
- ▪Eight protesters were convicted of terrorism-related charges for a shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas
- ▪Benjamin Song was also convicted of attempted murder of a U.S. officer
- ▪The defendants were convicted on charges including providing material support to terrorists, riot, and using explosives
- ▪Prosecutors alleged the defendants were part of a "North Texas antifa cell" and that the attack was premeditated
Unusually lengthy prison sentences
- ▪Benjamin Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, was sentenced to 100 years in prison
- ▪Maricela Rueda received a 70-year sentence, five others received 50 years, and Daniel Sanchez Estrada received 30 years
- ▪U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor called the event "an assault on democracy," stating the sentences were needed for deterrence
- ▪Seven other defendants received prison sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years
Prosecution evidence from messages
- ▪Leftwing zines from a book club the defendants were affiliated with were also used as evidence of conspiracy and ideology
- ▪Prosecutors used the defendants' group messages on the encrypted app Signal, which discussed bringing firearms, as evidence
Comparison to January 6 cases
- ▪The sentences are longer than those given to leaders of the January 6 Capitol attack, such as Enrique Tarrio (22 years) and Stewart Rhodes (18 years)
- ▪Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade called the sentences "unusually long," stating she would have expected 15 to 25 years
Nationwide crackdown on activists
- ▪In a separate case, federal prosecutors charged 15 people in Minnesota with impeding immigration enforcement, also alleging they were antifa members
- ▪President Trump signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, though no legal domestic equivalent to the foreign list exists
- ▪The case is viewed as a test of the Trump administration's crackdown on dissent and its targeting of antifa
Story comments
Loading comments…