Antifa Goons Who Attacked ICE Facility in Texas Hit With Maximum Prison Sentences

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Eight members of a North Texas Antifa cell received maximum or near-maximum federal prison terms in federal court Tuesday for their roles in the July 4, 2025 ambush attack against the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.

In a pair of hearings, two judges—U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman and U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor—dropped the hammer on the Antifa convicts, hitting them with a combined 450 years in prison:

– Ringleader Benjamin Song: 100 years in prison.
– Maricela Rueda – 70 years
– Cameron Arnold (also known as Autumn Hill): 50 years in prison.
– Zachary Evetts: 50 years in prison.
– Savanna Batten: 50 years in prison.
– Meagan Morris: 50 years in prison.
– Liz Soto: 50 years in prison.
– Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada: 30 years in prison for conspiracy and concealing documents.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas, the militants were “heavily armed with military gear, guns, AR-15 style rifles, 12 sets of Kevlar bullet proof vests, masks, goggles, tactical gloves, two-way radios, and helmets.”

An Alvarado Police officer was shot in the neck while responding to reports of suspicious activity outside the facility as part of coordinated Antifa attack, authorities said.

Testimony and evidence produced at trial “established that the defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to an ideology that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

Expert witness Kyle Shideler, the Director and Senior Analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy,  explained Antifa’s method of operations, telling the jury that “Antifa’s coordinated efforts involve obstructing Federal law through organized riots, violent assaults, and armed confrontations with law enforcement officers, increasingly targeting agents and facilities related to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement in opposition to the agency’s deportation actions.”

Nine defendants were convicted in March on charges that included attempted murder and firearms offenses.

The Washington Post, Intercept, The Guardian and other left-wing rags at the time disparaged the government’s evidence and sought to portray the defendants’ activities that night as a First Amendment-protected protest.

But Judge O’Connor stated that what happened was not a protest at all, it was “an assault on democracy.”

“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” he said.

The ninth and final convict, Ines Soto, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on July 1 in Judge O’Connor’s court.

“We have been clear: anyone who attacks law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement following the sentencing. “This is a win for law and order.”

“These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. “Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression. Because of the prompt action of first responders that night and tenacious work of our law enforcement partners, in tandem with the prosecutors in my office, eight people have been rightly punished for these violent acts and their attempts to conceal them. We will continue in this mission to hold others accountable who perpetrate such violence and fund these ANTIFA groups in the Northern District of Texas.”

“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” stated Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.”

“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.”