Days after a gunman killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, it became clear that President Donald Trump would use the killing to further crack down on free speech. In revenge for Kirk’s death, the administration vowed to go after so-called “antifa” (formerly known as antifascist) terrorists. Now that promise is bearing fruit. This week, eight activists in Texas were sentenced to between 30 and 100 years in prison – one for attempted murder, but most of them were allegedly part of a rebel “Antifa cell,” including one who was sentenced to 30 years in part for removing a box of zines.
These unusually harsh sentences are a major victory for the Trump administration, which may be a blueprint for targeting activists across the US. Courageous managers quickly celebrated them. In a statement, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said the sentences show that the law will come down hard on “Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and government agencies.” But many of those convicted do not.
The Texas charges concern the July 4, 2025 protest outside the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. About a dozen protesters set off fireworks and shouted messages in Spanish through a bullhorn. Then it became tense: several people slashed the tires of the ICE van, broke the security camera, and vandalized the security shack. When the guards came out of the building and told the group to leave, some agreed, but others stayed. After the officer arrived at the scene and drew his gun, one of them yelled “Get to the rifles” and fired the gun he had brought, according to charging documents. The officer, who was shot in the neck, testified that he “knew” that his life was in danger and spent three to four hours in the hospital after being shot.
Benjamin Song, who shot, said he shot because he thought the policeman was going to shoot the protester, and he was convicted of attempted murder. But in addition to the shooting charge, prosecutors called Song an “opposition leader.” Along with rioting and discharging a firearm during a violent crime, he was also charged with supporting terrorists – and sentenced to 100 years in prison.
Some of the defendants were convicted of lesser charges ranging from treason to materially supporting terrorists, charges the government has included in such crimes as distributing anarchist literature and “wearing a black bloc.” But their sentences, too, spanned decades.
Two people – Savanna Batten and Elizabeth Soto – were not involved in organizing the demonstration, they arrived separately from the others, and left when the guards told them, before shooting. They were sentenced to 50 years in prison each. Among other allegations, the government said they were “part of a group that created and distributed subversive materials called ‘zines.'” Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, who did not attend the protest at all, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for transporting a box of zines—an act that prosecutors said was “corruptly concealing a book or record.” Ines Soto, Elizabeth Soto’s husband, was granted bail and will be sentenced on July 1, according to the Department of Justice. (So will the seven others who pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists, some of whom testified as witnesses at the trial.) Other sentences handed down suggest that he will be similarly harsh.
The Justice Department reportedly admitted that the zines weren’t illegal at all — they were created for a book club named after anarchist editor Emma Goldman, which covered topics including feminism and “the elimination of artificial intelligence from the face of the earth.” But it said the Sotos, by presenting at the Zine show, provided “material support to terrorists.”
“The defendants’ violence and terrorism is an attack on democracy,” said Reed O’Connor, the Republican-leaning judge who handed down the sentences, among others. O’Connor said the government needs to “prevent this type of behavior.” In a statement to The guardthe Song called it “collective punishment.”
In a statement, FBI director Kash Patel said the agency “remains committed to identifying, locating, and disrupting Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” and more charges are forthcoming. Last week, prosecutors indicted 15 people in Minnesota on multiple charges including conspiracy to obstruct or injure a public official, attempting to commit a crime of violence, assaulting a public official, and vandalizing state property. Like the Prairieland defendants, the DOJ says the 15 people charged in Minnesota are connected to “antifa.”
The DOJ is trying to punish people for going after ICE officials — and if it succeeds, other activists may follow.
The lawsuit notes that the defendants are affiliated with the Black Cat Workers Collective and say they “entered and exploited legitimate protests” in the Twin Cities, where thousands of people resisted Operation Metro Surge, a months-long DHS campaign that led to the arrest of thousands of immigrants and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the federal government’s prosecution efforts. It accuses some – but not all – of the defendants of using makeshift shields, using debris to block traffic, and blocking DHS vehicles with wood, leaves, and other items as they exited the Whipple Federal Building for arrests.
The lawsuit cites communications from Signal, which was widely used to coordinate the distribution of aid and patrols at ICE car parks in Minnesota. Patel said that during the protests, the FBI opened an investigation into the conversations between the activist groups. Here, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants coordinated “anti-law enforcement action,” used security – or OPSEC – techniques, and engaged in “surveillance tactics.” One defendant is accused of kicking a government vehicle and “causing teeth. Two are accused of traveling on state roads “with the intent to kill, injure, torture, threaten, or put another person under surveillance.” In plain English, the DOJ is trying to punish people for going after ICE officials – and if it succeeds, other activists may follow.
Although the impeachment inquiry distinguishes between legal and alleged illegal acts, its language is slippery. Erik Davis, professor of religious studies at Macalester College in St. “It looks like I’ve been charged with holding meetings,” Davis reportedly told the judge. Indeed, the 94-page indictment alleges that Davis presided over an “Emergency Meeting to Resist ICE Operations” in January and sent messages about other meetings to Signals group chats. The lawsuit notes that another defendant, Isaac Auman Sant, wrote an article for an “anarchist blog.” In his article, Sant allegedly talked about watching someone break into an ICE vehicle. It is noteworthy that the indictment does not say that Sant destroyed the car, that he was in front of the person who did it.
The strategy here is guilt by association. Just as White House officials justified Alex Pretti’s death by vilifying him as a domestic terrorist and a “potential murderer,” any of the thousands of ordinary people who oppose ICE’s siege of the Twin Cities can be labeled counter-terrorists — and sentenced to life in prison for it.
