8 accused of antifa ties convicted on terrorism charges over shooting at Texas immigration facility

DALLAS– A federal jury on Friday convicted eight people of terrorism charges following a shooting at a Texas immigration center that federal prosecutors linked to Antifa, the decentralized far-left movement that has become a target of the Trump administration.

One person was also convicted of attempted murder after prosecutors said she opened fire last summer outside the Prairieland Detention Center outside Fort Worth, wounding a police officer. The Justice Department called the violence a planned attack by antifa agents, but lawyers for the defendants denied that characterization, saying there was no antifa association and that it was simply a demonstration with fireworks before gunfire erupted.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, appointed by President Donald Trump, presided over the nearly three-week trial in Fort Worth. It was closely followed by legal experts and critics who called the proceedings a test of how far the government can go to punish protesters.

FBI Director Kash Patel said it was the first time charges of material support to terrorists had targeted people accused of being members of Antifa.

“Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally puts an end to their violence on America’s streets,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Short for “antifascists,” antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists during protests.

Defense attorneys told jurors there were no plans for violence on July 4 outside Alvarado’s facility.

In total, nine defendants were on trial, eight of whom were accused, among other things, of providing material support to terrorists. The ninth defendant, Daniel Sánchez Estrada, was charged with concealment of documents and conspiracy to conceal documents. He was found guilty of both.

Sanchez Estrada’s attorney, Christopher Weinbel, said he couldn’t believe jurors “came to this conclusion.” Weinbel said he deployed multiple times as a member of the military to defend the United States and hoped that what he sacrificed “meant something.”

“But I feel like they turned their back on justice with this. … The United States lost today with this verdict,” Weinbel said.

Prosecutor Shawn Smith told jurors during closing arguments that the group’s actions — including bringing guns, first aid children and wearing bulletproof vests — were all signs of nefarious intent by the group. He said they practiced “antifa tactics” and were “obsessed with operational security.”

Lawyers for the defendants said no ambush was planned and that protesters who brought guns did so only for their own protection.

The terrorism accusations follow Trump’s order last fall to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. These charges did not require a connection to any organization, and there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. This is partly because organizations operating in the United States are protected by broad First Amendment rights.

Critics of the Justice Department’s case said the outcome could have far-reaching effects on the protests.

“This opposition is something that the government wants to crush, so a case like this helps the government see how far it can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protests and also helps it intimidate, increase fear, hoping that people in other cities will think twice before protesting,” said Suzanne Adely, interim president of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive legal group.

Lawyers for the defendants said most of the protesters began to leave when two guards from the center came out. This was before any shots were fired.

Prosecutors said Benjamin Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, yelled “guns” and opened fire, hitting a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.

Although it was Song who opened fire, prosecutors charged several other protesters with attempted murder of an officer and discharging a firearm, but they were found not guilty. The prosecution had argued that based on the group’s planning, it was foreseeable to other people that a shooting might take place.

The officer who was shot, Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, said that while responding to the scene, he saw a person dressed in black with their face covered and carrying a rifle. He told jurors he was shot once in the shoulder and out of the neck.

Song’s attorney, Phillip Hayes, told jurors during closing arguments that there was no call to arms before Gross arrived on the scene and “aggressively” drew his firearm. Hayes suggested that Song’s shots were “suppressive fire” and that a ricocheting bullet was what hit the officer.

Before the trial, several people pleaded guilty to material support of terrorists after being accused of supporting Antifa. They face up to 15 years in prison at sentencing.

Some of them testified for the prosecution, including Seth Sikes, who said he went to the detention center because he wanted to bring some joy to those held inside.

“I felt like I was doing the right thing,” he said.

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Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno contributed from Austin, Texas.