Texas Antifa Case: Prairieland Attack, Mistrial, and Sentences

The Antifa Texas case refers to the federal prosecution of sixteen people over a July 4, 2025, armed attack on the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. It produced the first federal terrorism convictions tied to “antifa” in U.S. history and, at sentencing on June 23, 2026, sent eight trial defendants to prison for a combined 450 years, with the shooter, Benjamin Hanil Song, receiving 100 years.¹

What Happened at Prairieland

Prairieland is a federal immigration facility in Alvarado, Texas, operated by LaSalle Corrections under contract with ICE.² On the morning of July 4, 2025, some of the eventual defendants staged a peaceful daytime protest there. Prosecutors later argued the daytime event was reconnaissance to assess security.³

Around 11 p.m., a group returned in dark clothing and face coverings, a tactic known as “black bloc.” According to trial evidence, participants had disabled or bagged their cell phones and used encrypted messaging apps with auto-delete features. They brought eleven firearms, body armor, military-grade first aid kits, and fireworks.¹

The group slashed tires on government vehicles, spray-painted anti-police graffiti, destroyed a surveillance camera and a guard shack, and threw fireworks and explosives at the facility. Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross responded to a suspicious-persons call. On police body camera, Benjamin Song was captured yelling “get to the rifles!” before opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle. A bullet struck Gross in the neck and exited through his back. He was treated at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, received internal and external stitches, and was released after several hours.⁴ At trial in February 2026, Gross said the wound still occasionally caused him pain.

Song evaded capture for eleven days. He was arrested on July 15, 2025.¹

Who Was Charged

Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas charged the participants as members of a “North Texas Antifa Cell.” Sixteen people were ultimately convicted. Nine went to trial; seven pleaded guilty.¹

Benjamin Hanil Song, a Marine Corps veteran and firearms instructor who operated under the moniker “Champagne,” was identified as the cell’s leader; prosecutors said he recruited members at gun ranges and combat training sessions.⁵ He was convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use an explosive, attempted murder of federal officers and employees, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Six other trial defendants — Cameron Arnold (also known as Autumn Hill), Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris (also known as Meagan Morris), Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto — were each convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists, and conspiracy to use and carry an explosive. Prosecutors had also charged Hill, Evetts, Morris, and Maricela Rueda with attempted murder and discharging a firearm, but the jury acquitted them on those counts.⁶

Rueda, the wife of co-defendant Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was convicted of riot, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use an explosive, and conspiracy to conceal documents. Prosecutors alleged she directed her husband to move a box of “antifascist zines” from their residence while Song was still a fugitive.⁷ Sanchez Estrada, who was not present on July 4, was convicted of corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents.⁸

Seven additional defendants — Nathan Baumann, Seth Sikes, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas — pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists. Four testified as cooperating witnesses.¹ The investigation was led by the FBI Dallas Field Office with Homeland Security Investigations, ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alvarado Police Department, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, and ICE.

The Trial and the Mistrial

The case was tried in federal court in Fort Worth before U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman. It hit an early obstacle on February 17, 2026, when Pittman declared a mistrial during jury selection over the clothing of defense attorney MarQuetta Clayton, who represented Rueda. Clayton was wearing a T-shirt under her blazer depicting civil rights figures, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Shirley Chisholm; she reportedly wore it to honor Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had died that morning. Pittman dismissed the 75-person jury pool, called the shirt “politically charged,” compared it to a prosecutor wearing an ICE pin or a Trump shirt, and warned Clayton she could face sanctions.⁹

A new jury was selected and trial began on February 23, 2026. Over twelve days, the government called 46 witnesses and introduced more than 210 pieces of evidence, including body camera footage, encrypted chat logs, DNA evidence, and seized firearms and body armor.¹⁰ A key prosecution witness was Kyle Shideler, a senior analyst at the Center for Security Policy, testifying as an expert for the first time. He told the jury that the defendants’ use of encrypted messaging, black bloc attire, and “security culture” practices were consistent with antifa tactics. Defense attorneys challenged his qualifications; Judge Pittman overruled the objections but admonished Shideler during cross-examination for being evasive.¹¹

The defendants called no witnesses and put on no evidence, relying on cross-examination to avoid exposing themselves to government questioning.¹² After roughly two days of deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts against all nine on March 13, 2026.⁶

The Sentences

On June 23, 2026, eight of the nine trial defendants were sentenced to a combined 450 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judges Mark Pittman and Reed O’Connor presided over the sentencing hearings in Fort Worth.¹³

Benjamin Hanil Song: 100 years
Maricela Rueda: 70 years
Cameron Arnold (Autumn Hill): 50 years
Savanna Batten: 50 years
Zachary Evetts: 50 years
Bradford Morris (Meagan Morris): 50 years
Elizabeth Soto: 50 years
Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada: 30 years¹

Judge Pittman, who sentenced Song, said “it’s by the grace of God that Song is not dead. He managed to get 11 shots in seconds; then the officer shooting blindly happened to hit the magazine well of Song’s rifle.” Judge O’Connor described the attack as “an assault on Democracy” and “terrorism.” In explaining why Rueda’s 70-year sentence exceeded the 50 years given to most non-shooter defendants, O’Connor noted that when she allegedly directed Sanchez Estrada to conceal documents, “a known terrorist was on the run for shooting a police officer during a terrorist attack.”⁷

The ninth trial defendant, Ines Soto, and the seven who pleaded guilty were scheduled for sentencing on July 1, 2026.¹⁴

How the Defense Fought the Case

Defense attorneys framed the prosecution as a politically motivated experiment. Attorney Lesa Pamplin said the case “was brought because Trump wanted it brought.”¹⁵ Rueda’s attorney told the jury, “This is an experiment for them. But this courtroom is not a laboratory, and Maricela is not a lab rat.”¹⁶

The defendants maintained the July 4 event was a “noise demonstration with fireworks” meant to show solidarity with detained immigrants, and that violence was never the plan. Song’s attorneys argued he did not intend to kill Lt. Gross but fired “suppressive” shots toward the ground that ricocheted, aiming to distract the officer from shooting at an unarmed protester who was fleeing. In a written statement, Song said he believed “another protestor was about to be murdered right in front of me.”⁵ Judge Pittman granted a government motion barring the defense from arguing self-defense or defense of others.¹⁵

The defense also argued the government had withheld exculpatory material. Attorney George Lobb said FBI records from a 2018 Dallas field office investigation had concluded that “Antifa DFW” and its affiliates posed no threat to national security, contradicting the prosecution’s “militant enterprise” narrative. Prosecutors denied any discovery violation. In January 2026, Judge Pittman denied a defense motion for additional discovery on the government’s characterization of the group and fined each defense attorney $500 for filing what he called “frivolous” motions. Defense attorneys have signaled they will use the withheld FBI records as a basis for appeal.¹⁵ Families of the convicted defendants have publicly promised appeals; attorneys for Meagan Morris said one would be filed “promptly,” and Aubrey Lowrey, the sister of Savanna Batten, said “the case will disintegrate when they get the case out of Texas.”¹⁷

Why the Case Matters Beyond Texas

Prairieland was the first major federal case to follow President Trump’s September 22, 2025, executive order designating antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.” The order described antifa as a “militarist, anarchist enterprise” and directed federal agencies to investigate and dismantle its operations.¹⁸

The designation was legally novel. Unlike the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, which carries specific consequences under the Immigration and Nationality Act, there is no domestic statutory framework for labeling a domestic group a terrorist organization. Former FBI Director Chris Wray and the Congressional Research Service had previously described antifa not as an organization but as a decentralized movement without formal leadership or membership rolls. Sources close to the White House acknowledged the order functioned more as a “messaging and prioritization tool” than a formal legal mechanism.¹⁹

The tool prosecutors actually used was the federal material support statute, which criminalizes providing weapons, personnel, services, or other resources to those who commit federal crimes. FBI Director Kash Patel described the Prairieland convictions as the first time that statute had been used against people accused of antifa membership.²⁰ Prosecutors did not need to prove the existence of an organized “antifa” group or specific “terroristic intent” to win convictions under material support. According to KERA News, the word “antifa” appeared only once in the jury instructions.²¹ The antifa evidence — the black bloc clothing, encrypted communications, anarchist literature — served primarily to establish the “militant enterprise” narrative.

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the verdict proof of a systematic effort to “dismantle Antifa and finally halt their violence on America’s streets.” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said the defendants’ acts were “a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression.”¹

Civil liberties organizations disagreed. The Brennan Center’s Faiza Patel warned that extending the material support framework to domestic contexts could criminalize minor acts of support, such as donating money or lending equipment to activist groups, and expose people to severe prison terms for constitutionally protected activity.¹⁹ The National Lawyers Guild said the prosecution was testing “how far they can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protests” and was intended to “intimidate” future demonstrators.²⁰ Defense strategist Joseph Fabbro called the terrorism convictions “absurd” and said they set a “dangerous precedent” by equating protest activities with support for groups like al-Qaeda.¹⁵

As of mid-2026, twenty-two people have been accused in state courts, federal courts, or both in connection with the Prairieland incident.¹³ The case now heads toward appeal, where the government’s terrorism framework will get its first serious appellate test as applied to a domestic protest.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Leader of Antifa Cell Members in North Texas Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison
2
ICE. Prairieland Detention Facility
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U.S. Department of Justice. Antifa Cell Members Convicted in Prairieland ICE Detention Center Shooting
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KERA News. Prairieland Detention Center Shooting Trial Begins
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Courthouse News Service. Texas ICE Detention Protest Shooter Sentenced to 100 Years
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KERA News. Prairieland Detention Center ICE Shooting Trial Verdict
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The Intercept. Prairieland Texas ICE Protest Prison Sentences
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U.S. Department of Justice. Antifa Cell Members Indicted in Prairieland Shooting
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KERA News. Judge Declares Mistrial in Prairieland ICE Shooting Trial
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Click2Houston. Leader of Texas Antifa Group Sentenced to 100 Years in Prison
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CBS News Texas. Final Key Witnesses Testify in Prairieland ICE Facility Shooting Trial
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KERA News. Prairieland Detention Center ICE Shooting Trial
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Houston Public Media. Prairieland Shooter Gets 100 Years
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CBS News Texas. ICE Detention Attack Defendants Sentencing
15
In These Times. Prairieland Antifa Trial
16
Courthouse News Service. Jury Hears Closing Arguments in ICE Facility Shooting Trial
17
Texarkana Gazette. Prairieland Defendants’ Families Promise Appeal
18
The White House. Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization
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Politico. Trump Antifa Terrorist Designation Questions
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Politico. Accused of Antifa Ties Convicted on Terrorism Charges
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KERA News. Prairieland ICE Shooting Antifa Trial