Shooter, 7 others sentenced to decades in prison after violent incident at Texas ICE facility

A man who shot and wounded a police officer during a protest outside a Texas immigration centre last year was sentenced to 100 years in federal prison Tuesday, while other protesters accused of having links to antifa were given multiple decades in federal prison.

Benjamin Song was convicted of attempted murder last March after prosecutors say he opened fire and wounded a police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado in a July 4, 2025 incident.

The seven other protesters sentenced Tuesday received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.

“Our issue with this case has always been this isn’t 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,” Philip Hayes, Song’s attorney, said outside the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”

WATCH | A Texas pastor talks about the impact of the deportation campaign:

Pastor talks about impact of ICE detentions

Pastor Diane Garcia says a growing number of families in her Texas congregation have been broken up by ICE arrests and are struggling to make ends meet.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the proceedings, said what happened last July wasn’t a protest but “an assault on democracy.”

“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.

He said his client would appeal the sentencing.

“Song, aside from this day, has had an impeccable life. A former Marine. A good student,” Hayes said. “He had a lot of good qualities that were just ignored. The judge went ahead and gave as much as he could.”

Defendants deny antifa affiliation

One of the defendants, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was convicted of corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents. Others pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.

Prosecutors say the eight are members of antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization that has become a target of the Trump administration. They have denied any affiliation and maintain they attended the demonstration to show support for immigrants inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre.

The facility has been among several across the U.S. described as overcrowded amid the Trump administration’s expansive deportation blitz.

FBI Director Kash Patel has said the case against the Prairieland demonstrators is the first accusing people the Trump administration believes are antifa of terror-related charges.

President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating antifa a domestic terrorist organization, even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.

Critics warn the case could have wide-reaching impact on protests given that organizations operating within the U.S. are supposed to be protected by First Amendment free-speech rights.

Short for “anti-fascist,” antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

The National Lawyers Guild — a decades-old progressive bar association — has tracked the Prairieland case, expressing concern about the rights to rights to free expression, assembly, and association for several of the defendants. The guild has also argued that the judge in the case made several decisions that compromised their right to a free trial.

Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. They claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.