Texas ICE detention protest shooter sentenced to 100 years, others sentenced to decades

FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) — Gunman Benjamin Song was sentenced to 100 years in federal prison Tuesday for wounding a police officer at an ICE detention center protest in Texas, alongside seven other defendants who each received decadeslong sentences.

The eight defendants were convicted in March on various riot, terrorism and explosives charges relating to the attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado on July 4, 2025. The defendants were accused of shooting fireworks at the facility and vandalizing property, resulting in Song shooting and wounding an Alvarado cop who was called to the scene. Song was the supposed ringleader and the only defendant convicted of attempted murder.

Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years. Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Meagan Morris and Elizabeth Soto were sentenced to 50 years, while Daniel Estrada was sentenced to 30 years.

Prosecutors have claimed the defendants are domestic terrorists with links to antifa who used tactical gear and encrypted messaging apps. Short for antifascist, antifa refers to a decentralized, umbrella movement of activist groups opposing fascism, racism and far-right extremism.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization in spite of the fact that no official organization exists. This case is one of the first federal prosecutions under that order.

Supporters and attorneys of the defendants have denied any connection to antifa, insisting most protesters had started to leave when guards from the detention center came outside. They claim the protest was intended to be peaceful and noisy in support of detained immigrants housed inside.

Song denied hating cops or Trump, claiming Tuesday he fired to stop Alvarado police officer Thomas Gross from shooting an unarmed protestor.

“I saw Lt. Thomas Gross point his gun at the back of a running, unarmed protestor, and assuming an aggressive firing position, leaning forward hard into the recoil of his gun,” Song said in a written statement. “As a firearms instructor and a United States Marine Corps Veteran, I knew exactly what was about to happen. I knew another protestor was about to be murdered right in front of me.”

Song deemed the arrest and persecution of 21 people since the protest as “collective punishment” and “guilt by association.”

“This is injustice,” Song said. “So, should I have done nothing? Should I have looked the other way” Should I have just allowed yet another person to be slaughtered."

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee, sentenced Morris, Rueda, Soto and Song. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, an appointee of George W. Bush, sentenced Batten, Evetts, Hill and Estrada.

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