Trump DOJ's plot to imprison ICE protesters for life hit by last-minute blow
Eight activists convicted of terrorism-related charges and rioting for their role in a noise demonstration outside an ICE facility, at which a local police officer was shot, face up to life in prison when they go before a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, for sentencing on Tuesday.Another, the last of the nine convicted in March, will be sentenced on July 1.The Trump administration has hailed the case as a watershed in its campaign to dismantle “antifa” as a domestic terrorist threat. But as they await sentencing, the defendants are seeking to overturn the convictions based on the claim that the government suppressed evidence showing that the officer drew first, and based on potential juror misconduct.Defendants have also argued that they should be acquitted or granted new trials because the evidence shows they went to the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility on July 4 last year to set off fireworks and cheer up the detainees. They argue there was no riot and no violence, with the exception of one or two individuals who committed vandalism at their own initiative — and the exchange of gunfire when the police showed up.“They weren’t doing anything wrong," Amber Lowrey, the sister of one of the defendants, told Raw Story. "They’re just human beings. Some of them knew each other, and some didn’t. They did similar volunteer work. People say, ‘It won’t happen to me, because I’m not involved with groups like that.’ Oh, but it will!"The first to respond to the scene when detention officers called to report a disturbance with fireworks on July 4, 2025 was Lt. Thomas Gross with the Alvarado Police Department. Gross’ dash camera, which was reviewed by Raw Story, shows him accelerating down the lane towards the facility. As he approaches the entrance, two figures in black can be seen running past the guardhouse, which is defaced with graffiti reading, “F--- ICE.”“Hey, stop!” Gross yelled.His body-worn camera video shows that he jumped out of his car and pursued the individuals on foot.Almost immediately, gunfire erupted and a bullet grazed Gross’ neck.“F---!” he said as his body landed on the wet pavement. “I’m hit.” Additional footage shows Gross seated in the back of a police vehicle as other officers arrive on the scene. “I’m hit — my back,” Gross says as another officer renders first aid.Later, as Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene and searched defendant Meagan Morris’ car, they discovered a rifle and ammunition.“This is like a straight coordinated terror attack on Prairieland,” one of the officers commented.One of the first of the protesters to be arrested was Nathan Baumann, one of the men Gross had seen running past the guardhouse.“If there’s anything y’all need, like, listen, I’m all for peaceful protest — if you want me to point out people’s vehicles to you, anybody doing dumb s---, I got you, sir,” Baumann said as an officer adjusted his handcuffs and detained him in the back seat of a cruiser.The charges against defendants linked to the noise demonstration initially focused on the shooting, although the shooter remained at large.Benjamin Song, a former Marine who provided firearms training to left-wing activists in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, would not be apprehended for another 11 days.The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 — more than two months later — brought the government’s case into focus.Later that month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order naming “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization, followed by National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-7, which described “antifascism” as an “umbrella” for “recurrent motivations and indicia uniting” a “pattern of violent and terrorist activities.” The memo runs down a laundry list of characteristics commonly associated with the left, including “support for the overthrow of the United States government” and “extremism on migration, race and gender.”The Prairieland defendants, who were protesting federal immigration policies and two of whom are transgender, appeared to present the Trump administration with an embodiment of the new threat straight out of central casting.When a new indictment was returned in October 2025, it described the defendants as members of an “antifa cell” and “militant enterprise.”As evidence that the defendants were planning violent action at the ICE facility, the government highlighted a statement by Song in a Signal planning chat: “Cops are not trained or equipped for more than one rifle so it tends to make them back off.”Last week, when the White House announced an indictment against 15 “antifa” defendants in Minneapolis for conspiracy to obstruct immigration enforcement, it cited the Prairieland case as part of its “relentless campaign to eradicate Antifa’s domestic terrorism threat.”The indictment against the Minneapolis 'antifa' defendants reflects a precedent set by the Prairieland case, Xavier T.
