{"id":48890,"date":"2026-06-27T12:51:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T19:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48890"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T19:51:41","slug":"criminalizing-dissent-alarm-grows-over-extreme-prison-terms-for-texas-ice-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/criminalizing-dissent-alarm-grows-over-extreme-prison-terms-for-texas-ice-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Criminalizing Dissent\u2019: Alarm Grows Over Extreme Prison Terms for Texas ICE Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Demonstrators<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People show support for protesters facing trial for allegedly being part of a nonexistent \u201cNorth Texas Antifa Cell,\u201d outside the Eldon B. Mahon United States Courthouse in Fort Worth on March 13, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Kevin Krause\/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow anyone engaged in basic protests with the wrong political beliefs can be labeled a domestic terrorist, when they have no intention of violence,\u201d said one attorney.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 26, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alarm and outrage mounted this week following a federal judge\u2019s lengthy prison sentences for a group of activists falsely accused by the Trump administration<\/a> of being members of a nonexistent \u201cNorth Texas<\/a> Antifa Cell,\u201d with some observers calling the extreme punishments\u2014including 30 years for moving a box of constitutionally protected pamphlets\u2014a test case for criminalizing dissent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight members of the \u201cPrairieview Nine\u201d\u2014part of a larger group of activists who staged a July 4, 2025 protest<\/a> outside a US Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Alvarado, Texas\u2014were sentenced Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth to between 30-100 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Signs<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018New Red Scare\u2019: ICE Protester Gets 30 Years for Leftist Zines Under Trump Antifa Decree<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"No<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Major Escalation\u2019: Trump Prosecutor Invokes NSPM-7 While Unveiling Charges Against 15 ICE Protesters<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin Song, who was convicted of shooting Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, was sentenced to 100 years for attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and lesser offenses, including discharging a firearm during a violent crime, conspiracy to use and using an explosive, and rioting. Song, a former US Marine, contends that he shot Gross in self-defense after the officer drew his gun first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cexplosives\u201d in question were fireworks brought to the July 4 protest to show solidarity<\/a> with people detained by ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Bradford Morris, and Elizabeth Soto got 50 years each for rioting, providing material support to terrorists, and conspiracy to use and using an explosive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years for rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and using an explosive, and conspiracy to conceal documents. Those documents were leftist pamphlets protected by the First Amendment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rueda\u2019s husband, Daniel \u201cDes\u201d Rolando Sanchez Estrada, was hit with a 30-year prison sentence for conspiracy to conceal documents for moving a box full of the pamphlets after speaking with his wife. He did not attend the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judge Reed O\u2019Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush<\/a> and a favorite<\/a> of right-wing<\/a> judge shoppers, told the court that the lengthy sentences are meant to \u201csend a message to anyone who shares a similar ideology\u201d with the defendants, according to<\/a> one observer of Tuesday\u2019s proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prairieland sentences were more severe<\/a> than the longest prison term for the average US murderer or rapist, as well as for the January 6<\/a>, 2021 Capitol insurrectionists\u2014all of whom were later pardoned<\/a> by President Donald Trump\u2014as well as for convicted child sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happened on Tuesday, it\u2019s shocking to all of us, devastating to the families, 50- to 100-year sentences,\u201d Sufia Khalid, deputy director of the National Security Criminal Defense Center at the Muslim Legal Fund of America and lawyer to one of the Prairieland defendants,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Democracy<\/a>\u00a0Now! on Thursday. \u201cThose are essentially life sentences for all of the young people in this case, largely of whom were engaged in nonviolent protest at an ICE detention facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A group of anti-ICE protesters in Texas were sentenced to 30 to 100 years in jail on Tuesday, after federal prosecutors accused them of being an "antifa terror cell."

The activists attended a protest and noise demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE jail in Alvarado, Texas.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/QxFMPaGsvj<\/a><\/p>— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) June 25, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>