Leader of Antifa cell members in North Texas sentenced to 100 years in prison for terrorist attack on ICE facility

Yesterday, the Justice Department announced that eight North Texas Antifa Cell operatives were sentenced for their roles in rioting, using weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists, obstruction, and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer at the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025. This is the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa following President Donald J. Trump’s executive order designating the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization in September 2025.

Benjamin Hanil Song, who was convicted of the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Together, the Prairieland terrorists received a combined sentence of 450 years in prison:

• Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years in prison;
• Cameron Arnold was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
• Savanna Batten was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
• Zachary Evetts was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
• Bradford Morris was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
• Elizabeth Soto was sentenced to 50 years in prison; and
• Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

“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. “Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.”

“Today’s sentencings show the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism.”

“These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. “Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a 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, eight people have been rightly punished 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.”

“The sentences handed down today send an unmistakable message: Attacks on federal officers and facilities will not be tolerated. The men and women of ICE serve with integrity and courage, often in challenging and dangerous environments. The calculated violence carried out by these Antifa cell members at Prairieland was an assault on law enforcement and an attack on the rule of law itself,” said Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Nearly one year after this cowardly act, justice has prevailed. ICE will continue to stand firm against those who threaten our officers, our facilities and our mission.”

The sentences follow a 12-day trial that began on Feb. 23, where jurors heard testimony from 46 witnesses and considered over 210 exhibits supporting the charges against nine indicted defendants: Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill; Zachary Evetts; Benjamin Song; Savanna Batten; Bradford Morris, also known as Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; Elizabeth Soto; Ines Soto; and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada. All were convicted. Ines Soto was granted a continuance and will be sentenced on July 1.

Seven others, Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas, pleaded guilty prior to trial to one count of providing material support to terrorists and they will be sentenced on July 1.

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, 2025, 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 to treat gunshot wounds to the scene of the attack.  Many of these items were introduced by the government as exhibits.  Additionally, DNA and 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 the detention facility, they began shooting off and throwing fireworks (explosives) at the facility and vandalizing vehicles and a guard shack on Prairieland property:

Witnesses testified that an Alvarado police officer responded to the scene after correctional officers called 911.  When the officer began issuing commands to defendant Nathan Baumann, Benjamin Song can be heard on police bodycam video yelling, “get to the rifles!” and then he opened fire on the officers, striking the Alvarado police officer in the neck as the unarmed correctional officers ducked and ran for cover.  Police arrested most of the Antifa Cell shortly after the attack, many near the scene.  Benjamin Song escaped and remained at large with the help of others until his capture on July 15, 2025.

Trial evidence demonstrated that collectively, this ANTIFA Cell acquired over 50 firearms in the Fort Worth/Dallas area prior to July 4.  During trial, the government introduced numerous chats of the members, who used an encrypted messaging app to coordinate with each other that had auto-delete functions, permanently deleting some Antifa Cell members’ communications.  They also used monikers in group chats to hide their identities, and some of the planning chats included only trusted participants.  The chats introduced at trial revealed that members in this limited group conducted reconnaissance and discussed what to bring to the riot, including firearms, medical kits, and fireworks:

Witnesses who testified during the government’s case included the Alvarado police officer who was shot in the neck by Song, detention officers present that night who also took cover from rapid fire, multiple additional responding officers, numerous investigative agents, and cooperating codefendants, including Baumann, Sharp, Thomas, and Kent.  Among other things, Kent testified that the night before the attack at a “gear check,” Song proposed to free the detainees at the Prairieland detention facility and told the group that they should wear “black bloc” and bring rifles, because he (Song) wasn’t going to be arrested.  Evidence at trial also revealed that some of the defendants attended a peaceful daytime protest at Prairieland on July 4—without the gear they brought that night—and that they reported back to other defendants details regarding security at the facility:

The sentences of the eight defendants were for the following offenses:

• Riot, with the intent to commit an act of violence, involving conduct such as shooting and throwing fireworks and explosives, slashing tires on a government vehicle, spraying graffiti on property and vehicles, destroying a closed circuit camera, shooting at officers, and dressing in black bloc.
  • Defendants convicted: Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto
• Providing Material Support to Terrorists, including property, services, training, communications equipment, weapons, explosives, personnel (including themselves), and transportation.
  • Defendants convicted: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
• Conspiracy to Use and Carry an Explosive, and Using and Carrying an Explosive, during a riot.
  • Defendants convicted: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
• Attempted Murder of Officers and Employees of the United States, involving the unlawful attempt to kill with malice aforethought an Alvarado Police Officer who was assisting federal officers/agents.
  • Defendant convicted:  Song
• Discharging a Firearm During, and in Relation to, and in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence, i.e., the attempted murder of two correctional officers and an Alvarado Police Officer.
  • Defendant convicted:  Song
• Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record, by transporting a box containing numerous Antifa materials, such as insurrection planning, anti-law enforcement, anti-government, and anti-immigration enforcement documents and propaganda from Sanchez Estrada’s residence to a location in Denton, Texas, intending to conceal the box’s contents and impair its availability for use in a federal grand jury and federal criminal proceeding.
  • Defendant convicted: Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada
• Conspiracy to Conceal Documents and other objects that would implicate Maricela Rueda in the riot and shooting at the Prairieland facility.
  • Defendants convicted: Sanchez Estrada and Maricela Rueda

Defendants Song, Morris, Rueda, and E. Soto were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark T. Pittman for the Northern District of Texas. When imposing the sentences, Judge Pittman said, “It’s by the grace of God that Song is not dead. He managed to get 11 shots in seconds; then the officer shooting blindly happened to hit the magazine well of Song’s rifle. Mr. Song’s lucky he isn’t dead. We had a guardian angel that ensured that Mr. Song isn’t dead, and we don’t have several deceased people at Prairieland.”

Defendants Arnold, Evetts, Batten, and Sanchez-Estrada were sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’ Connor for the Northern District of Texas. When imposing the sentences, Chief Judge O’ Connor said, “The defendants’ violence and terrorism is an assault on Democracy. The defendants’ planning, staging, and execution of the attack led to the attempted murder of an officer who ironically is not even involved in enforcing immigration law.”

The sole count of providing material support to terrorists brought in the information against Baumann, Gibson, Kent, Morgan, Sharp, Thomas, and separately, Sikes’s information, mirrors the material support offense in the charges presented to the jury at trial.  Each of these defendants face a sentence of up to fifteen years in federal prison and will be sentenced on July 1, 2026.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Dallas Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alvarado Police Department, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Office (ICE ERO).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank Gatto, Shawn Smith, and Matt Capoccia for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.