A federal court in Texas has sentenced eight people to a combined 450 years in prison for a July 4, 2025 attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center near Dallas, in which a police officer was shot in the neck, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Benjamin Hanil Song, whom prosecutors described as the group’s leader, was convicted of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and sentenced to 100 years, the department said. Seven others received sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years: Maricela Rueda, 70 years; Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris and Elizabeth Soto, 50 years each; and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, 30 years.
According to the Justice Department, the defendants were members of a North Texas cell that the government has described as part of a militant Antifa network. The department said the sentencing was the first of defendants affiliated with Antifa since President Donald Trump’s September 2025 executive order designating the movement a domestic terrorist organization.
Prosecutors said the attack took place late on July 4, 2025, at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where the Department of Homeland Security was housing people awaiting deportation. The department said the defendants, dressed in dark clothing and face coverings, fired and threw fireworks at the facility, slashed tires on a government vehicle and vandalized property.
When an Alvarado police officer responded after a 911 call from corrections officers, Song opened fire and struck the officer in the neck, according to the Justice Department. The officer survived. Prosecutors said Song fled and was captured on July 15, 2025.
The sentences followed a 12-day trial that began Feb. 23, in which jurors heard from 46 witnesses, the department said. Nine defendants were convicted at trial; one, Ines Soto, is to be sentenced July 1. Seven others pleaded guilty before trial to providing material support to terrorists and are also scheduled for sentencing July 1.
U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, who sentenced four of the defendants, said it was “by the grace of God” that Song did not kill anyone, noting that the responding officer’s return fire happened to strike the magazine well of Song’s rifle.
The case was investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alvarado Police Department and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
