A federal jury convicted nine North Texas Antifa cell operatives on charges tied to the planned July 4 attack on the Prairieland ICE detention center, where fireworks, explosives, and gunfire wounded an Alvarado police officer.
On Friday, March 13, nine members of Antifa were convicted of a number of felony charges and domestic terror enhancements for their roles in a July 4, 2025, attack on the Prairieland immigration detention facility in Alvarado, Texas.
During the attack, the perpetrators, dressed in all black, launched fireworks and used incendiary devices to target the outside of the building. They vandalized vehicles and lured two officers outside. According to video, one of the terrorists, Benjamin Song, yelled “get to the rifles” and began shooting, hitting Lt. Thomas Gross in the neck. Song kept firing at the officers until his rifle jammed, then the defendants ran.
Most of the attackers were quickly arrested, but Song escaped and wasn’t caught until July 15.
Song was the only defendant convicted of attempted murder of a police officer and discharging a firearm in furtherance of committing a violent crime.
He along with Cameron Arnold (also known as Autumn Hill), Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, (also known as Meagan Morris), Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada were convicted on one count of rioting.
Eight of the defendants were convicted of providing material support to terrorists and carrying and using an explosive device. In addition, Sanchez Estrada was convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record and, along with Rueda, conspiracy to conceal documents.
Evidence presented at trial showed that the defendants used fake names, as well an encrypted chat service with auto-delete measures to permanently hide some messages. The Antifa cell in the area had secured over 50 firearms prior to the attack.
Lawyers for the defense tried to portray the attack as a peaceful protest, arguing that only Song intended violence.
But evidence showed otherwise. Defendants attended a peaceful protest outside the facility earlier in the day and timed how long it took the gate to open. The night before the siege, the defendants had a gear check in which they talked about what to bring to the attack. Song told the others to bring rifles and discussed freeing illegal alien prisoners. He also said he wasn’t going to be arrested.
Rather than a peaceful protest, the prosecutors proved the Antifa members had carried out a coordinated, planned attack on the facility.
Despite this, defense attorney Lesa Pamplin, who represented Rueda, said she was shocked by the verdict.
“This case was overcharged. Trump wanted it,” she claimed. “My heart breaks for her. My heart breaks for all of them. Our First Amendment rights are basically dead at this point. There’s no going back, but that’s the Trump Administration.”
Federal prosecutors countered that the First Amendment right to “peaceably” assemble and petition the government is not a license to attack a government facility and shoot a police officer.
“The calculated, violent attack at ICE’s Prairieland facility was an abhorrent way for antifa terrorists to ‘protest’ the way this agency enforces the law — but these verdicts make clear that those who choose violence over lawful expression will face the full force of the American justice system,” said ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. “The men and women who serve at these facilities deserve to do their jobs without facing intimidation or violence. Let today’s outcome serve as a warning: Those who target federal officers with intimidation, ambush tactics or political violence will be investigated, prosecuted and held accountable.”
Song faces a minimum of 20 years in prison, with the potential for a life sentence.
Arnold, Evetts, Morris, Rueda, Batten, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto face sentences ranging from 10 years to 60 years. Sanchez Estrada could receive as many as 40 years in prison. Seven other Antifa members originally involved in the attack pled guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than go to trial.
President Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terror organization last September. The group has been attacking law enforcement, conservative speakers and events, pro-life pregnancy centers, Christians, and churches for years, and up until recently, almost always with impunity. The Texas case marks the first time Antifa members have been arrested, charged, and convicted as domestic terrorists.
In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi predicted that the jury’s verdict on terror charges “will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Leftist Rhetoric Is Fueling Violence Against ICE and Border Patrol Officers
{Published July 24, 2025} In announcing last week that there has been an 830 percent increase in violence against federal immigration agents, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) placed the blame squarely on false media reports and unhinged claims by left-wing politicians.
They’re absolutely right.
All we’ve heard for months from Democrat members of Congress, governors, mayors, and other radical politicians are exaggerations, incitement, and flat-out lies about the federal effort to legally deport criminal aliens and all we’ve seen in response are daily riots, protests, and direct attacks against both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers.
And the mainstream media has been only too happy to parrot that dangerous rhetoric while also largely ignoring their own role in bringing about harm to law enforcement officers.
It’s hardly a surprise, since they used the same playbook five years ago to turn the mob on police officers.
Now they’ve targeted ICE and Border Patrol officers. Here are just a few recent examples of the violence they’ve seen:
- On July 19, an off-duty Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer was shot in the face and forearm by an illegal immigrant. Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez was apprehended at the border by CBP in 2023 but was released into the United States and has since committed numerous crimes. Nunez is wanted in Massachusetts for kidnapping and has also committed assault, stabbed a person, and is wanted for robbery. The CBP agent is expected to recover.
- On July 7, a man fired dozens of rounds at a Texas Border Patrol facility, injuring two Border Patrol employees. The man was killed by law enforcement.
- On Independence Day, 10 Antifa activists launched a planned attack on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas. The activists lured law enforcement agents out of the detention center as two of the assailants vandalized vehicles and shot fireworks. When two unarmed agents went outside to talk to the vandals, the other activists began shooting, hitting one agent in the neck. One of the activist’s rifles jammed and was left at the scene as they fled. Law enforcement captured the 10 activists who were clothed in black with masks. They also arrested the getaway driver, who had a pistol and Kevlar ballistic vest. Later, they arrested another person who was attempting to remove evidence from an activist’s residence.
- Three people in Portland, Oregon, vandalized an ICE building on the evening of July 4. When officers came out to stop them, one of the protesters kicked an officer, one threw an incendiary device at officers, and another used bolt cutters to damage a card reader at the facility and the fiber cable system, which interrupted Internet access at the facility.
- On June 6, over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building in Los Angeles, California, where rioters assaulted law enforcement, slashed tires, and vandalized property.
Lies and Violence
ICE and Border Patrol officers have also been repeatedly attacked by rioters who throw rocks at them and, just as bad, they have been the targets of Antifa-related efforts to dox agents, as fliers with their personal information have been posted online. Such actions have led to activists trespassing and dumping trash and posting threatening messages at the homes of these agents.
In a statement, the White House agreed with DHS that the violence and ongoing harassment was a “direct consequence of dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric” from the left.
The White House listed several politicians such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who have referred to ICE agents as “Gestapo” and “secret police” and demanded that all ICE agents be unmasked.
On June 30, DHS provided a list of some of the false media headlines targeting ICE.
One particularly ridiculous example was one that said, “ICE Arrested a Pregnant Tennessee Woman – While in Detention in Louisiana, She had a Stillbirth”.
The subhead claims she spent three days at the detention facility with no medical care before being transferred to a hospital.
According to DHS, this was a lie. The woman, who has an active warrant for homicide in Guatemala and has been arrested twice for child abuse/neglect in the U.S., had been given prenatal care, including an ultrasound and OB-GYN visit, dental care, and medication. DHS says immediately after expressing distress, she was given medical assistance and transferred to a hospital.
“Brave ICE law enforcement are risking their lives every day to keep our communities safe from the worst of the worst criminals,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “ICE law enforcement are succeeding to remove terrorists, murderers, pedophiles and the most depraved among us from America’s communities, even as crazed rhetoric from gutter politicians are inspiring a massive increase in assaults against them. It is reprehensible that our officers are facing this threat while simply doing their jobs and enforcing the law.”
An Ongoing, Coordinated Effort
Sadly, ICE is only the latest target of the left’s outrage. For years now, we have seen left-wing violence resulting from well-coordinated, intentional efforts to foment that violence.
Since 2020, mob rage has been directed at businesses, police precincts, and everyday people driving in cars during the George Floyd riots; pro-life pregnancy centers and churches when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade; Jewish businesses and students in New York City in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attacks; and the recent firebombing of Tesla dealerships and Tesla cars because Elon Musk was working to identify government waste and abuse.
Academics, politicians, and media outlets get the mob riled up by portraying their targets as sub-human or villainous with absurd comparisons, such as calling them Nazis. They spread false reports intended to make the target, in this case ICE and Border Patrol agents, look diabolical and filled with hate while simultaneously painting a sympathetic picture of their preferred group, in this case illegal immigrants.
But what politicians failed to understand is, the people whose rage they are fomenting, really believe they are fighting Nazis, and they aren’t satisfied with speeches. Increasingly, they’re willing to use violence.
As the Mob Turns?
Like an arsonist who gets consumed by the fire when the winds start shifting, left-wing elites are quickly losing control of the forces they put into motion.
According to a recent article by Axios, many House Democrats are now expressing fear at the radical nature of their base.
Several Democrats stated that the anger of many of their constituents has “morphed into a disregard for American institutions, political traditions and even the rule of law.”
One representative said, “Our own base is telling us that what we’re doing is not good enough … [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public.”
Some revolutionaries are now telling lawmakers that they need to step up and be willing to take a bullet when visiting ICE buildings.
One Democrat recounted, “I actually said in a meeting, ‘When they light a fire, my thought is to grab an extinguisher.’ And someone at the table said, ‘Have you tried gasoline?’”
A representative said the most radical “tend to be white, well-educated and live in upscale suburban or urban neighborhoods.”
One House member stated, “What I have seen is a demand that we get ourselves arrested intentionally or allow ourselves to be victims of violence, and…a lot of times that’s coming from economically very secure white people.”
For generations, leftist and liberal politicians have gained influence by labelling anyone who disagrees with them “bigots,” “racists,” “misogynists,” and “fascists” and routinely comparing their opposition to Hitler.
Now, these same people are concerned that their base seems to have actually believed them?
History’s Warning: It Always Ends One Way
That’s not a rhetorical question. Of course they’re scared — and they should be. That’s because, deep down, they know that the radicals they created will turn on them. It’s just a matter of time. The history of socialist and communist nations has shown, over and over again, that the left always eats its own.
We’re already seeing it. Earlier this week, Democrat Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez woke up to find that pro-Hamas activists had vandalized her campaign office in the Bronx, even as she admitted she is now receiving “credible” death threats, after voting for an amendment for the National Defense bill that provides funding for Israel.
Both political opportunists and comfortable liberals who aren’t true believers will soon wake up to the reality that they have created a mob that will burn down America in their quest to destroy all those “Nazis” they’ve been convinced are found on every corner.
And that mob won’t be satiated with posts on Bluesky or gaining a slim majority in Congress next year. As the revolutionaries in France learned the hard way, the mob’s anger, hate, and malice will only be satiated with blood.
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