Leader of Texas immigration center attack gets 100-year prison sentence

WASHINGTON, June 23 – Eight people were each sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison on Tuesday in connection with violence at a Texas federal immigration facility last year that prosecutors called domestic terrorism.

In the incident on July 4, 2025, prosecutors said antifa militants wearing black tactical gear opened fire on law enforcement officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, about 25 miles (40 km) south of Fort Worth. A police officer was wounded.

Benjamin Song, who was convicted of attempted murder and who prosecutors said was the operation’s organizer, got the longest sentence of 100 years, according to court filings.

In hearings at U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, two judges announced sentences of 30 to 70 years for seven other defendants, most of whom were convicted in March on charges including rioting and supporting terrorism.

Defense attorneys said the defendants had planned a peaceful protest in support of people detained at the immigration facility and denied the group was connected to antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist movement that President Donald Trump designated as a domestic terrorist organization last year.

Song’s lawyer, Philip Hayes, was quoted by media as saying Song intends to appeal.

Hayes said those convicted were not “a bunch of terrorists. This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard.”

Aside from Song, those sentenced were identified as Autumn Hill, Zachary Evetts, Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada.

One other person, Ines Soto, is due to be sentenced in July.

Lawyers for the defendants and the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. REUTERS