Eight people linked by prosecutors to the antifa movement have been sentenced to a combined 450 years in federal prison for their roles in a riot outside an immigration detention centre in Texas on 4 July last year. Benjamin Hanil Song, a 32-year-old former US Marine Corps reservist identified as the group's leader, received 100 years after being convicted of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. The remaining seven defendants received sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years on charges including rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, and obstruction.
The incident took place at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, a town south of Dallas, on American Independence Day. According to prosecutors, the group set off fireworks, vandalised vehicles and a guard kiosk, and opened fire after local police arrived to disperse the crowd. An officer was struck in the throat — he has since fully recovered — while most of the demonstrators were arrested on the scene, found to be carrying multiple firearms. Song fled but was apprehended eleven days later. At sentencing, Song stated in a written statement that he fired because he believed police were about to shoot a protester; his mother disputed that he shot the officer at all. His attorney described him as a person of previously impeccable character whose intention was never to harm anyone, and confirmed he plans to appeal.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the sentences as a firm message, saying that those who attack law enforcement and federal facilities would face "swift and uncompromising justice." The presiding judge described the events of that night as "an assault on democracy." A ninth defendant, Ines Soto, is due to be sentenced on 1 July, when seven others who pleaded guilty to a single count of providing material support to terrorists will also learn their fates.
The case has drawn sharp divisions. Supporters of the defendants argue the sentences are disproportionately harsh and that the prosecution of those who did not fire weapons could have a chilling effect on protest more broadly — critics note that antifa is not a coherent organisation with a command structure, as terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda are, but rather a loose ideological umbrella encompassing far-left activists who oppose neo-Nazis and white supremacists. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last autumn designating antifa a domestic terrorist organisation, a move that legal experts say is without formal equivalent in domestic law, since US organisations are protected by First Amendment free-speech rights. The defendants themselves have consistently denied any antifa affiliation, saying they attended the demonstration solely to show solidarity with immigrants held inside the facility.