Eight defendants convicted over a 2025 “terrorist attack” have received prison terms ranging from 30 years to a century
Eight people convicted over a 2025 “terrorist attack” on a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Texas were handed prison terms of up to a century on Tuesday.
The US Justice Department said the case marked the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa since President Donald Trump designated the movement a terrorist organization.
According to the DOJ, the defendants were convicted 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.”
Benjamin Hanil Song, whom prosecutors identified as the cell’s leader and the gunman who shot and wounded the officer during the attack, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. The seven other defendants received terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.
The sentences drew criticism from some defense attorneys and legal observers, who described them as unusually severe. Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told The Guardian that she would have expected prison terms “more in the ballpark of 15 to 25 years” rather than the decades-long sentences imposed in the case.
Supporters of the defendants have also argued that the prosecution could set a precedent for future cases involving political activists.
The Department of Homeland Security has described the sentences as “a win for law and order,” warning on X on Tuesday that “anyone who attacks law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa a “domestic terrorist organization” in September 2025, stating that the movement was “a militarist, anarchist enterprise” that “has engaged in armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violently assaulted ICE and other law enforcement officers.”
The White House pointed to several incidents, including the doxing of ICE officers in Portland, Oregon, where activists published agents’ personal information online. Several ICE facilities came under attack last year, including a sniper shooting at a Dallas field office that killed two detainees.
Antifa, short for ‘anti-fascist’, is a loosely organized movement of left-wing activists known for staging counter-protests, often while wearing masks and black clothing. The movement rose to national prominence during the 2020 unrest following George Floyd’s death and has been associated with clashes involving police, journalists, and right-wing protesters.
Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown has sparked legal challenges and nationwide protests. The White House has defended the campaign – billed as the largest deportation effort in US history – as a way to remove “the worst of the worst” criminals, while critics accuse the administration of eroding due-process protections through increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics.
