Nine defendants in the anti-ICE Prairieland Detention Center riot last Independence Day in Texas were convicted in federal court on Friday.
The defendants were convicted on a range of charges including rioting, “providing material support to terrorists,” “conspiracy to use and carry an explosive,” and “using and carrying an explosive” in the North Texas Antifa Cell attack that left a local police officer shot in the neck.
In a statement, FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock described the incident as a “coordinated attack” on the facility where illegal immigrants were being held before deportation from the United States.
Two individuals were also convicted of “conspiracy to conceal documents.”
According to the Department of Justice, Benjamin Song was considered the attack’s “leader,” who gave out firearms and recruited people for the effort. Song was convicted of attempted murder of federal officers for the “unlawful attempt to kill with malice aforethought the Alvarado Police Officer” and for unlawful discharging of a firearm in “the attempted murder of two correctional officers and an Alvarado Police Officer,” as he was the one who shot the officer in the neck.
Song successfully fled the scene but was arrested on July 15, 2025, while law enforcement arrested most of the other individuals involved “shortly after,” the DOJ said.
Song could face up to life behind bars, with a minimum of 20 years, according to a Department of Justice press release. Seven of the individuals could get 10-60 years in prison, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
“These guilty verdicts and convictions rightly reflect the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4 last year,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a statement.
“Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from some 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, sixteen people have been brought to justice 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.”
Notably, the attackers used “monikers” in group chats to plan the riot. The attackers also used fireworks and committed acts of vandalism, including spray-painting “F*ck You Pigs” on a building.
