A North Texas jury convicted the defendants in the July 4, 2025, armed assault on the Prairieland Detention Center; the man who shot an Alvarado police officer received 100 years
Eight people have been sentenced to a combined 450 years in prison for their roles in an armed attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, 2025, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
According to the department, the sentences followed a 12-day trial in the Northern District of Texas that began February 23, in which jurors heard from 46 witnesses and reviewed more than 210 exhibits. All nine indicted defendants were convicted. The department said the case is the first sentencing of defendants the government identifies as affiliated with Antifa following an executive order in September 2025 designating the group a domestic terrorist organization — a designation that has been the subject of legal and political debate.
The department said Benjamin Hanil Song, convicted of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, received the longest sentence at 100 years. The others sentenced were 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). A ninth convicted defendant, Ines Soto, was granted a continuance and is set to be sentenced July 1, along with seven others who pleaded guilty before trial to providing material support to terrorists.
What the Trial Established
According to the department, trial evidence showed that late on July 4, 2025, at least eleven defendants attacked the Prairieland facility, which the Department of Homeland Security was using to house people awaiting deportation. The department said the defendants dressed in “black bloc” — dark clothing and face coverings meant to conceal their identities — and brought firearms, body armor, and military-grade first aid kits to the scene.
The department said the group set off and threw fireworks at the facility and vandalized vehicles and a guard structure. When an Alvarado police officer responded after correctional officers called 911, prosecutors said, Song opened fire, striking the officer in the neck as unarmed correctional officers took cover. The department said most of those involved were arrested shortly after, while Song fled and was captured on July 15, 2025. According to the department, the cell had acquired more than 50 firearms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area before the attack and used encrypted, auto-deleting messaging to coordinate.
What Officials and the Court Said
“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas said the defendants’ actions — which he described as attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility — were “a far cry from a peaceful protest or First Amendment expression.”
In imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman remarked on how close the attack came to being deadly, saying it was “by the grace of God” that Song was not killed when a returning shot struck his rifle, and that the outcome could have left “several deceased people at Prairieland.” Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who sentenced four of the defendants, called the attack “an assault on Democracy.”
The Investigation
The department said the case was investigated by the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, the ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alvarado Police Department, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
