Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
Federal judges sentence eight people to a combined 450 years over a July 4, 2025 attack on an ICE detention center, including terrorism-support counts
The Prairieland Detention Center case, in which an Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck, produced what the Justice Department called the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa since Trump’s September 2025 designation order.
What happened
On June 23, 2026, federal judges in the Northern District of Texas sentenced eight people to a combined 450 years over a July 4, 2025 attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Song shot an Alvarado police officer in the neck during it. Song received 100 years after an attempted-murder conviction.
Maricela Rueda received 70 years, and Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris and Elizabeth Soto 50 years each for riot, material support to terrorists and explosives counts. Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, who was not at the protest, received 30 years for concealing documents.
Judges Mark Pittman and Reed O’Connor imposed the sentences after a 12-day trial, and the Justice Department called it “the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa.” On July 1, seven defendants who pleaded guilty to material support and one trial defendant were sentenced separately.
Who benefited
The administration got its first sentences showing its terrorism designation of left-wing protest networks can be enforced in court. The Justice Department’s leadership had promised to treat anti-ICE activity as terrorism, and the sentences came with the department describing the case as an Antifa prosecution.
Who wanted something
The Justice Department’s national-security prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas acted under directives to pursue terrorism charges against groups opposing immigration enforcement. The directives came from the attorney general and the White House.
Who lost out
The defendants received sentences far beyond what assault or property charges carry. The officer’s injury is the real harm the prosecution built on. Everyone who protests at a detention facility now faces the possibility of a terrorism indictment.
Why it matters
Material-support charges were written for al-Qaida, and they now carry up to 50 years for people at a protest where one person fired a gun. The sentences make a violent incident at a demonstration into terrorism for every defendant charged with it.
Sources Homeland Security Today (relaying DOJ release)The InterceptAl JazeeraThe Real News NetworkThe GuardianU.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (primary)U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas (primary)