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A federal jury convicted “nine North Texas Antifa Cell operatives” for their roles “in rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer and unarmed correctional officers at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center” in 2025, the Justice Department announced.
“A federal jury just convicted nine violent extremists for the July 4 attack on an ICE detention center in Texas. They ambushed law enforcement, shot an officer in the neck, and thought they’d get away with it. Today justice prevailed. Terrorists who target our agents will face the full force of federal law. We will continue dismantling violent extremist networks and the funding pipelines that support them,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
“Thank you to our partners across law enforcement and to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice for ensuring these prosecutions moved forward,” he added.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: A federal jury just convicted nine violent extremists for the July 4 attack on an ICE detention center in Texas. They ambushed law enforcement, shot an officer in the neck, and thought they’d get away with it.
Today justice prevailed. Terrorists who target our…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) March 13, 2026
More from the Justice Department:
Testimony and other evidence 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. An expert testifying in the government’s case told 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.
Evidence at trial revealed that most of the Antifa Cell involved in the Prairieland attack looked to Benjamin Song as a leader. Song acquired firearms that he distributed to co-defendants and recruited members at gun ranges and combat sessions he conducted, as well as from various ideologically aligned groups. For example, defendants Ines Soto, Elizabeth Soto, and Savanna Batten were part of a group that created and distributed insurrectionary materials called “zines,” according to trial evidence.
Trial testimony reflected that, late at night on July 4, at least eleven of the defendants rioted and attacked the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was using to house illegal aliens awaiting deportation. The defendants dressed in “black bloc”—dark clothing with head and face coverings that concealed their identities—designed to hide each individual’s identity but also to aid and abet those members engaged in illegal acts by making members indistinguishable from one another to law enforcement. Evidence introduced at trial revealed that the defendants brought eleven firearms, body armor, and eleven military-grade first aid kits with tourniquets and other items for gunshot wounds to the scene of the attack. Many of these items were introduced by the government as exhibits. Additionally, fingerprint evidence linked many of the defendants to the items at the scene, and evidence obtained on phone locations supported that those who participated in the attack all turned off their phones or placed them in Faraday bags to prevent tracking on the night of the attack.
After Antifa Cell members arrived at Prairieland, they began shooting off and throwing fireworks (explosives) at the facility and vandalizing vehicles and a guard shack on Prairieland property.
“Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that has been allowed to flourish in Democrat-led cities — not under President Trump,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
“Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets,” she added.
“This case marks a historic moment as it represents the nation’s initial federal indictment targeting a coordinated group of Antifa cell members engaged in violent criminal activity,” said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard.
“The charges demonstrate our unwavering commitment to confronting domestic terrorism and protecting our communities from organized threats,” Pickard continued.
More below:
🚨 BREAKING: ALL NINE members of an Antifa cell in TX have just been found GUILTY of TERRORISM charges brought by the DOJ, per @MrAndyNgo
This is HUGE, as it’s the first terrorism trial against Antifa members in US history!
A precedent has been SET 🔥
The terrorists AMBUSHED… pic.twitter.com/xA00lqUZo2
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 13, 2026
CBS News shared further:
Alvarado Police Chief Teddy May welcomed the guilty verdicts, noting that Lt. Gross – the officer shot in the neck during the attack – has fully recovered. May said the outcome reflects the consequences of the choices made that night.
“It’s unfortunate for Mr. (Benjamin) Song,” he said. “He made some poor decisions, and it seems like he’s now going to have to be paying his debt to society.”
He also agreed with prosecutors that the defendants could not have reasonably believed they were attending a peaceful protest.
“I don’t believe any reasonable person could believe the suspects didn’t know what they were doing,” May said.
He said the convictions bring closure for the injured officer, his family, and the department. May said officers were doing their jobs when they came under fire and thanked investigators and prosecutors for their work. He said the verdict reinforces their faith in the justice system and that the department remains focused on supporting officers and serving the community.
Autumn Hill (formerly known as Cameron Arnold), Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris (formerly known as Bradford Morris), Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada were charged with multiple offenses for their roles related to the Prairieland attack.