Texas ICE protesters get 30- to 100-year sentences

[Opinion: Not my America. Not even in Texas.]

Texas ICE protesters get 30- to 100-year sentences:

Nine activists convicted in March on terrorism-related charges stemming from a July 4 protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, received sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years on Tuesday.

DropSiteNews: 28 Jun 2026

Former U.S. Marine Corps reservist Benjamin Song, who shot and wounded a police officer was sentenced to 100 years, while five others received 50 years.

Maricela Rueda received 70 years, and Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, who was not present at the protest, was charged with concealing antifascist magazines at the request of his wife and received 30 years.

Prosecutors charged the group with participating in a conspiracy—though many of the protesters did not know each other—and were characterized as part of “antifa,” a loosely affiliated movement the Trump administration has attempted to criminalize as a terrorist organization. “Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade said she had expected sentences closer to 15 to 25 years, calling the stacking of consecutive sentences unusual.

The punishments exceed the longest sentences given for the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.