ICE protester convicted in attack in Texas gets 100-year sentence

Eight activists found guilty of terrorism-related charges in connection with an attack on an immigration detention facility in Texas were sentenced to decades in prison Tuesday, June 22. One man who shot a police officer in the neck was sentenced to 100 years in prison, federal court records show.

Benjamin Song, who shot an Alvarado Police Department officer in the neck during the July 4 incident at Prairieland Detention Center outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was sentenced to a century behind bars, according to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY.

Maricela Rueda, another defendant, was sentenced to 70 years in prison, records show.

Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto, Autumn Hill and Meagan Morris were each sentenced to 50 years in prison, while Judge Mark Pittman sentenced Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada to 30 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould said in a press release that eight operatives from a North Texas antifa cell were sentenced for offenses including rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer and that the sentencing came before the one-year anniversary of their attack.

A ninth person convicted in the case, Ines Soto, is set for sentencing July 1.

“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.

“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.”

The verdicts were handed down in March during a trial.

On Oct. 16, 2025, a grand jury indicted Hill and Evetts on charges that they provided material support to terrorists, claiming they were part of an "Antifa Cell" that planned the attack. The pair, along with the other defendants, were tried and convicted on dozens of charges ranging from attempted murder to weapons offenses.

The indictment came after President Donald Trump, in September 2025, designated antifa as a major terrorist organization, vowing to go after its funding as part of a broader crackdown on what the administration described as left-wing political violence.

Antifa – short for "anti-fascist" – is not an organized political group in the traditional sense, experts say. It is considered a decentralized movement that has no unifying organizational structure or detailed ideology, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, the independent research arm of Congress.

Dressed in black, wearing body armor and carrying guns

Prosecutors said that before the July 4 attack, a group of people aligned with antifa used an encrypted messaging app to discuss the layout of the Prairieland facility, the location of nearby police stations and what materials to bring to the facility, including firearms.

At least 11 people dressed in black arrived at the facility late on Independence Day, including some wearing body armor and carrying firearms, the indictment reads. At some point, some members of the group began shooting fireworks at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

After an Alvarado police officer arrived at the scene, at least one person associated with the group opened fire and struck the officer in the neck, according to the indictment. The officer fell to the ground but fired back before he was rushed to a hospital and treated for his wounds.

Prosecutors said dozens of rounds were fired during the incident. The building and several police vehicles were vandalized with graffiti slogans including "traitor" and "ICE Pig." Within days, the defendants were arrested and charged.

Evetts' lawyer, as previously reported by USA TODAY, said the people outside the ICE facility were "loosely affiliated" and "mostly don't know each other well," though they all have a common interest in protesting government overreach.

Seven others – Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp and John Thomas – pleaded guilty before the trial to one count of providing material support to terrorists, and will be sentenced on July 1.  

Alvarado Police Chief Teddy May told CBS News he welcomed the guilty verdicts, and said he agreed with prosecutors that the defendants could not "have reasonably believed they were attending a peaceful protest."

"It's unfortunate for Mr. [Benjamin] Song," he told the outlet. "He made some poor decisions, and it seems like he's now going to have to be paying his debt to society."

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.