Coffee Break: Texas ICE Protestors Get Decades in Prison and Little Notice from Liberal Media

Nine anti-ICE activists have received decades long sentences after a July 4, 2025 noise protest outside an ICE facility went horribly wrong. The case has received an alarming lack of attention from liberal, and even leftist, opponents of the Trump 2.0 regime. I’ve been remiss about covering this story because so much has been blowing up on my electoral politics and AI/business beats. But, the NC community needs to be alerted to what’s going on in Texas, so I’ll do my best to handle that today. WTF Happened Here? After a three-week jury trial, the nine activists were all found guilty of a slew of criminal charges in March, stemming from a Fourth of July protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, south of Fort Worth. The demonstrators arrived late at night with a plan to set off fireworks as part of a noise demonstration to show solidarity with those detained inside. A few of the protesters spontaneously broke off from the main group and vandalized cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van and broke a security camera. When a police officer arrived on the scene and drew his weapon, one of the activists fired an AR-15, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived. Benjamin Song, who fired the gun at the police officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Song was convicted of attempted murder of an officer of the United States, as well as firearm and explosives charges. He was also convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists. He faced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison. Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto and Meagan Morris were sentenced to 50 years in prison. Maricela Rueda, another demonstrator, was sentenced to 70 years in prison. All six were convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorist, and explosive charges. Rueda was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record. Evetts, Hill, Morris and Rueda were acquitted on attempted murder and firearms charges. The sentences handed down on Tuesday were unusually long, said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who served as the US attorney for the eastern district of Michigan during the Obama administration. “Most often, judges will sentence defendants for separate counts concurrently. Here, it appears that the judge stacked the sentences for each count consecutively. I would have expected lengthy sentences here, more in the ballpark at 15 to 25 years, but nothing like 50 to 100 years,” she wrote in an email. Antifa Has Been Got but Good Assistant Director for Public Affairs at the FBI Ben Williamsom tweeted the mugshots like he was showing off his catch after a big fishing trip: After an FBI investigation with our partners over the violent July 4, 2025 attack on an ICE facility in Prarieland, Texas – 8 ANTIFA members were sentenced to prison today – including the ringleader sentenced to 100 yearshttps://t.co/SNF4bLP5an — Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) June 23, 2026 Trump’s DOJ took a big ol’ victory lap: “The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.” “Today’s sentencings show the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism.” “These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. “Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression. Because of the prompt action of first responders that night and tenacious work of our law enforcement partners, in tandem with the prosecutors in my office, eight people have been rightly punished for these violent acts and their attempts to conceal them. We will continue in this mission to hold others accountable who perpetrate such violence and fund these ANTIFA groups in the Northern District of Texas.” “The sentences handed down today send an unmistakable message: Attacks on federal officers and facilities will not be tolerated. The men and women of ICE serve with integrity and courage, often in challenging and dangerous environments. The calculated violence carried out by these Antifa cell members at Prairieland was an assault on law enforcement and an attack on the rule of law itself,” said Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Nearly one year after this cowardly act, justice has prevailed. ICE will continue to stand firm against those who threaten our officers, our facilities and our mission.” These are the terrifying terrorists in question photographed in a non-mugshot context: — Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) June 29, 2026 Some of these convictions are particularly egregious. 30 Years for Transporting Zines?!? The Intercept focused on the most appalling case: Daniel Sanchez Estrada wasn’t accused of attempted murder or material support of terrorism after a protest turned catastrophically wrong outside an ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas. He was merely convicted of obstructing the investigation by moving a box full of antifascist zines after the protest. Giving him a long prison term would make a mockery of justice, his defense attorney, Christopher Weinbel, told U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor on Tuesday. “The punishment must fit the crimes — not the headlines, not the politics, not the fears that have been mongered about the case,” he said. Instead, O’Connor gave Sanchez Estrada a 30-year term. … Only one of the defendants, Benjamin Hanil Song, was accused of firing a gun at a police officer, who left the scene with an injury to his neck; Song was convicted of attempted murder. Still, federal guidelines calling for harsher sentences for all because of links to terrorism — which were applied by O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, and U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a Donald Trump appointee — meant that all the defendants faced long prison terms.Their only hope ahead of the simultaneous twin hearings was that the two judges might break sharply with federal guidelines. Instead, O’Connor and Pittman chose to make an example of the defendants. Several defendants said Tuesday that they never intended to hurt anyone. Their only hope was to show solidarity with the detainees by staging a noise demonstration with fireworks, they said. “When I went to protest on the night of July 4, it seemed more like a party to me than anything else,” Autumn Hill told the court Tuesday. “We didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.” Prosecutors, however, seized on the fact that the protesters arrived at the scene with guns and fireworks. O’Connor, the judge, said several times that the defendants had committed an “assault on democracy.” “What happened here was not by any stretch of the imagination a protest,” he said during the sentencing of one defendant. Hmm, I wonder how they feel about January 6th? Justice, Blind and Impartial The WSWS compare and contrast the Prairieland Nine with January 6: Sanchez-Estrada was not accused of participating in the shooting, planning an attack or providing material support to any alleged act of violence. Instead, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of concealing documents for moving a box containing artwork, journals, poetry, magazines and antifascist zines after his wife, defendant Maricela Rueda, had been arrested. Prosecutors argued that these materials constituted evidence of the alleged conspiracy. In effect, Sanchez-Estrada received a sentence longer than any imposed on a January 6, 2021 coup defendant for handling literature protected by the First Amendment. In fact, every Prairieland defendant received a sentence longer than the harshest punishment imposed on any participant in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. While anti-ICE protesters were sentenced to decades in prison under the banner of combating “domestic terrorism,” Trump granted sweeping clemency to more than 1,600 January 6 foot soldiers, including Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia members. At least 97 of those recipients have since been arrested for, charged with or convicted of additional crimes, including violent offenses, child sex crimes, domestic violence, stalking, grand larceny and plots to kill law enforcement officers and public officials. A Modicum of Leftist and Even Liberal Outrage While the lives of these nine anti-ICE protestors have surely been ruined, the case has gotten a fraction of the attention given to the murder of Renée Good in Minnesota. — Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) June 29, 2026 But there has been some. Houston Public Media let shooter Benjamin Song and his mother speak their piece: Before Pittman read his sentence, Song — sitting in the jury box with an orange striped jumpsuit and cuffs — told the court he doesn’t hate cops, Trump or Nazis. Song called the idea that he intended an ambush the night of July 4 “impossible.” Rather, when he saw Gross exit his car and point his gun at another defendant, Song said he saw his “worst nightmare” and feared an instance of police brutality. Song was glad, he said, that the people at Prairieland didn’t end up like Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson and other people killed by law enforcement. Song also denied he denied both being part of antifa and its existence as an organization. He defended anti-fascism as a belief. “What kind of people are not against fascism?” Song said. … The judge said Song had “obviously” not accepted responsibility and showed no remorse.Song’s mother, Hope Song, responded to Pittman’s comment at a press conference after the sentencing. “He’s accepted full responsibility for what actually happened,” Hope said. “But he will never accept responsibility for a lie — a government lie made to prosecute innocent people in order to get political persecutions.” Pittman also struck down Song’s attorney Phillip Hayes’ attempt to mention evidence he said proves Song fired his gun at the ground as suppressive fire. Pittman said it’s “by the grace of God” that Song and others are not dead. “If we’re in a day and age that we use suppressive fire at an officer trying to stop a riot, we are in a really, really bad point in our history,” Pittman said. Sanchez Estrada also denied ties to antifa as a domestic terrorist group. “I’m many things, your honor, but I’m not a terrorist,” Estrada told O’Connor. Other outlets broadened the context. There’s a Method to the FBI Madness Black Alliance for Peace explains: The Prairieland case is an attempt to normalize the use of extreme federal charges, including “material support to terrorism,” against individuals engaged in protest activity. The objective is clear: isolate movements, intimidate communities, and establish a legal framework that can be deployed against organizers across the country. The prosecution’s narrative rested on the weaponization of the word “Antifa,” which describes anti-fascist movements, but is now a term that has been weaponized by the far right and the national security state to manufacture a domestic enemy. By framing protest activity and even attire (such as wearing all-black clothing) through a counterterrorism lens, the state seeks to normalize extreme charges, lengthy sentences, and sweeping prosecutions that can be replicated against movements in the future, without the burden of material evidence. Equally troubling are the irregularities surrounding the trial itself: restricted public access, heavy judicial control over jury selection, and barriers to independent observation. These conditions reinforce the reality that the outcome of this case was shaped within a broader political context designed to secure convictions and establish precedent. But repression of this kind is not simply about punishing nine individuals. It is about sending a message to all who resist the violence of the U.S. system of detention, deportation, and border militarization. It is about intimidating movements and attempting to isolate those who challenge the legitimacy of the state’s institutions. It is about reinforcing the legal architecture that will strengthen repression and surveillance toward the aims of ‘full spectrum dominance’ on the domestic front, as well as globally. Don’t Laugh, We’re Next The Texas Observer pointed out the implications for anyone hoping to resist Trump 2.0: Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Autumn Hill, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto were convicted on felony charges of providing material support to terrorists, rioting, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and use and carry of an explosive (the aforementioned fireworks). Daniel Sanchez Estrada was convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record, and along with his wife, Rueda, was also convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents. Song, the alleged shooter, was also convicted on one count of attempted murder and other gun charges, while Hill, Evetts, Morris and Rueda were acquitted of the attempted murder and discharging a firearm charges. “I think this is the worst-case-scenario verdict,” said Luis, a member of the DFW Support Committee, a group working to support the Prairieland defendants, who requested that the Texas Observer use only his first name for fear of reprisal. Even had the shooting never occurred, Luis said, the verdict suggests the jury would have convicted the defendants anyway for actions that are common to many protests. … The case represents the federal government’s first use of material support for terrorism charges against alleged Antifa members. Experts say the outcome will give the Trump administration the green light to take a more aggressive stance against left-wing activity and further politicize the use of domestic terrorism laws.“It probably will embolden them to perhaps offer additional characterization of entities or groups … animated by some sort of anti-administration agenda as some species of Antifa,” said Tom Brzozowski, former counsel for domestic terrorism at the Department of Justice. … This case was a difficult one for those who sought to protect anti-fascist First Amendment-protected activities, “because there was a shooting of a police officer,” German said. “We can debate the nature of that injury [the officer was hospitalized and released within 24 hours], but it provides the locus of attention for viewing this particular protest as a dangerous event. There was an act of violence. And the domestic terrorism laws are very broad in this country. The [legal] definition of what is an explosive would probably shock most people.”German also worries about the further politicization of domestic terrorism charges. “The Trump administration and the media had demonized Antifa all through the first Trump term, and even more aggressively in the second,” German said. “This concept of terrorism tends to become politicized, particularly when government officials intentionally politicize it.” It’s not just Texas leftists that are alarmed. Even a Broken Centrist Can Be Outraged Twice a Day The libs at The Bulwark did themselves proud in a recent episode of their podcast: the victims of a story are never pure. You want your victims to be Mother Teresa. The victims in this story did some things that were wrong, but the way that they’re being treated by the government is fucking outrageous. It’s also like the way that they are being portrayed in media, which is again, it’s outrageous. And especially because one, it’s led to some of the most irritating people on earth gloating about it… “4th of July last year, protesters went to the Prairie Land Ice Facility in Texas for protest. It was disruptive, they were shooting fireworks, they were doing graffiti, they slashed some tires on the government van. You should not do that. They were asked to disperse. Many of them did not comply. A federal agent arrived, pulled out a gun. One of the protesters who had taken a rifle to the protest, Second Amendment, hell yeah, shot and wounded but didn’t kill the officer who pulled the gun, you should not do that. The government prosecuted then 22 protesters, not just the one. Including people who were not there. That’s something that’s important here. People who were not present for this event. Nine of the protesters were prosecuted under this material support for terrorism executive order that Trump signed last year, which is going after Antifa.” “So they’re getting hit with these terrorism charges. So these nine people, their sentences range from 30 to 100 years, 30 to 100. Many of the listeners got mad at me for what they considered one of my worst takes besides the declaration of the Oval Office, which was that I thought that the QAnon Shaman sentence was too harsh. He got like three years. Okay. These people got 30 to 100 years for Antifa terrorism.The government alleged that eight of the convicted protesters belonged to North Texas Antifa. In the case of one couple, the government relied on this evidence: They owned a printing press, like The Weather Underground, used to print Anarchia zines. This stuff isn’t new to the Trump 2.0 regime. Putting This in Historical Context TruthOut brings a little history to the party: In the wake of the fatal shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump issued his illegal National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) on September 25, 2025. Ominously entitled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” the directive essentially paints anyone who doesn’t support Trump’s agenda as a “domestic terrorist.” Target ideologies specifically listed in the memorandum include “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” This broad designation includes individuals, their organizations, and funders, and encompasses anti-fascist, pro-Palestinian, anti-ICE, and other leftist demonstrators in its net. The NSPM-7 openly calls for “investigative” tactics designed to “disrupt” and “dismantle” these groups. The language of the memo harkened back to the days of the government’s illegal and racist war against the Black liberation and New Left movements of 1960s, and of tactics that the FBI used to violently attack similar movements and leaders under its secret COINTELPRO program. The Trump administration memo also rallied the government’s politically motivated lawyers in the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington and in U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country to join the effort by using myriad federal statutes to vindictively and wrongfully charge and prosecute those who actively opposed the government and its violent and genocidal actions. This too mirrored the DOJ blueprint of the late 1960s and early 1970s that was aggressively pursued under the leadership of Attorney General John Mitchell. They’re not the only ones connecting the dots to American history and tradition. This IS America, Y’all, Always Has Been The severity is incomprehensible: By declaring “antifa” a terrorist organization and pillorying the Prairieland defendants, the Trump administration has made it very clear that there is no acceptable form of protest left—and that this is just the beginning. But it’s also worth exploring the dark historical parallels, which show this isn’t the first time the US government has abused its powers to quash dissent. … To truly understand the gravity of this case and the vengeful precedent upon which it was built, let’s travel back to Chicago in 1886. Eight activists alleged to have been a part of “the Haymarket riot” stood accused of conspiracy to use explosives, left to the mercy of a hostile jury that found their political views repugnant and their identities suspect. All eight men were anarchists; many were also labor organizers, orators, and writers who had thrown themselves into the fight for the eight-hour workday. Some were immigrants of German extraction, while one was a former Confederate soldier from Alabama turned leftist wordsmith.The activists had been hunted down and arrested after a rally of striking workers turned to chaos. Someone had thrown a bomb into the crowd, and the police started shooting. A number of workers were injured or killed in the resulting melee, as well as several policemen. Most of the accused had not been present when it happened, but were hauled to jail just the same; later, it was generally acknowledged that none of them had thrown the bomb, either. Their friends and comrades tried desperately to win them their freedom by appeal, by pardon, by sheer force of will. Lucy Parsons, the iconic Black anarchist activist whose husband Albert was among the accused, criss-crossed the country drumming up support. But even her fierce dedication could not swing the odds in their favor. Merely being associated with anarchism was enough to make a man seem guilty then, and ultimately, four of the eight men hung for it. Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fisher, and George Engel were executed on November 11, 1887. As the darkness closed in, Spies spoke the promise of his final words: “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!” Another, Louis Lingg, took his own life before the state got the chance. Three other defendants—Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, and Michael Schwab—eventually had their sentences commuted after years of torment. But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise even to those ignorant of 19th Century American history. We were warned much more recently. Ken Klippenstein Warned Us Substacker Ken Klippenstein has been trying to warn Americans since last fall that things like this were coming down the pike: on September 25, President Donald Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) called “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” essentially adding them to an ever-growing list of what he calls the “enemy within.” … On its face, NSPM-7 is chilling to read: If anyone needed proof that “terrorism” and “political violence” are slippery and fraught categories subject to political, ideological, and racial manipulation and bias—well, this is it.Like the president’s investigation into the Open Society Foundations and his order purporting to designate “Antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization,” which is not a thing!), NSPM-7 is a deliberate attempt to sow fear and intimidate and silence opposition to the president’s abuses. And while Klippenstein has not focused a full piece on the plight of those convicted in Texas, he has discussed the difficulty a federal prosecutor in Minnesota had in defining ‘antifa’ before a jury: Last week’s federal indictment of 15 anti-ICE protestors in Minnesota as alleged “Antifa” members — and thus domestic terrorists — is a masterclass in how the FBI is now practicing “pre-crime,” arresting normal citizens before they commit a crime, or without regard to whether they’ve committed a crime at all. It is one of the first cases where national security presidential memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) has been explicitly referenced by the Justice Department as directing arrests, a new practice that began this month. U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen said that the directive established Joint Task Force Vanguard to “prioritize politically motivated violence,” which to the Trump administration of course means its opponents. The directive, Rosen, also said, directs federal investigators “to investigate, prosecute, and disrupt those who engage in political violence and intimidation.” Rosen was asked at the press conference how the Justice Department defines Antifa, and basically had no answer. “What is Antifa goes beyond, goes beyond, I think, the scope of what this indictment is,” he replied. “But what I can tell you is that we have plenty of people that self-identify in that way, and you might wanna ask them that question.” And as to whether anyone was actually hurt, here too Rosen stumbled. “Whether or not they actually, at the end of the day, caused bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime,” said, sounding like a kid who hadn’t done the homework being called on in class. In other words, the federal government is prosecuting a group it cannot even define. The Trump administration’s war on its opponents finds its solid form in the war on Antifa. Because President Trump “designated” Antifa as a terrorist group, “counterterrorism” rules apply. Think of the modern day FBI objective as preventing another 9/11: that is, following the doctrine of the past two decades, which is to stop an attack before it happened. Though they don’t say it explicitly, Task Force Vanguard is in the business of pre-crime. Under NSPM-7, the feds require no crime to actually have been committed. They only need “indicators.” The indicators are broad enough to sweep in millions of Americans: “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “extremism on migration,” as I’ve previously reported. Hang tough, y’all, it’s going to be a long hot summer. Related posts: Great breakdown Nat, but have no idea what you are calling the ‘left’. As in political parties? Immediately when this happened , and the Mnpls charges …….the real left was fundraising and all over social media yelling outrage. It was the ‘real left’ that is part of the people getting these charges, obviously. And yes finding lawyers and setting up ongoing support groups. I should probably change the headline to liberal media. Nat, the part of your post that really struck me was when you brought up January 6. I don’t think we can just blame one side or the other for the deterioration of civil liberties and the abuse of power. Everyone is happily competing to see who can get to the bottom of he**pit faster. As I keep repeating, I consider this a Dostoevsky problem: too many people are convinced of their own righteousness that they see nothing wrong in dragging out all manner of abuse of law and common sense to crush their enemies while cynical hangers on are happily cheering them from the side. The first step to get out of this mess for all of us to start reminding ourselves that we don’t have the right to be right. “we don’t have the right to be right.” For sure, John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in its grave. Hedges had called for proportionality for Jan 6ers standing on trial. Why? He had warned of this very thing: backlash against left demonstrators. Guess who had fiercly attacked and called him a defender of fascism for this “lenient” view? WSWS. Perhaps overextending here. But a motion picture like Oscar-nominated “SING SING” should evoke a minimum of empathy towards anybody convicted to long prison sentences in the USA. I dread this country. The universal faith in law enforcement not only since Trump but every since. I don´t know if there was ever an era of general distance towards religiocification of US state power. It´s terrifying. Even leftists eventually walked back from their “Defund the Police” calls (need I say more than Taibbi and Kirn?). This part of US legal culture is pathologic. The old cliché “I don’t agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it” has long since been replaced by a combo of “I don’t agree with what you say, so shut up” and “You must agree with what I say or you’re far left/fascist”.