8 convicted in Texas immigration center shooting and protest are
sentenced to decades in prison
[June 24, 2026]
By JAMIE STENGLE and PHILIP MARCELO
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former U.S. Marine reservist and seven others
were sentenced Tuesday to decades in prison over a shooting last year
that wounded a police officer during a demonstration at a Texas
immigration detention center.
Prosecutors called the crime an act of terrorism and said the eight were
linked to the leftist militant group antifa. The defendants' attorneys
denied any antifa ties and family members expressed shock and anger over
the stiff sentences.
Benjamin Song, the Marine reservist who was convicted of opening fire
during the July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center
near Dallas, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, the maximum
punishment. The seven others sentenced in Fort Worth courtrooms received
prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.
“I am livid,” said Lydia Koza, whose wife, Autumn Hill, was sentenced to
50 years in prison. “The government wants to take her entire life away
because she attended a protest. Nobody died.”
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the
proceedings, said what happened wasn’t a protest but “an assault on
democracy.” All but one of the eight defendants sentenced Tuesday were
convicted on terrorism charges.
“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.
The case drew attention beyond Texas as critics warned it could have
wide-reaching impact on protests and First Amendment free-speech rights.
The Justice Department called it the first sentencing of “defendants
affiliated with” antifa after President Donald Trump last fall signed an
executive order designating it as a domestic terrorist organization.
Prosecutors link protesters to antifa
Trump issued the order even though there is no domestic equivalent to
the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. 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
at demonstrations.
“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who
attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and
uncompromising justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a
statement.
Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that the group’s actions —
including bringing firearms, first aid kits and wearing body armor —
were signals of nefarious intent.
Attorneys for the defendants have said there was no planned ambush and
that protesters who brought firearms only did so for their own
protection. They argued the gathering was planned as a late-night
demonstration with fireworks to show support for immigrants being held
at Prairieland before gunshots broke out.
Prosecutors have said Song had yelled, “get to the rifles” and opened
fire, striking a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.
Some defendants say they weren't part of the planning
Phillip Hayes, Song’s attorney, rejected characterizations that the
protesters were extremists and said his client will appeal the 100-year
sentence.
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Supporters of protesters convicted over a shooting outside a Texas
immigration detention center display signs in support of the
defendants outside a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas on
Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kendria LaFleur)
“This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really
big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Hayes said.
“It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended
that any shots would be fired.”
Prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to impose stiff penalties.
“People with that kind of extremist beliefs need extra time in
prison,” Gatto said. “They believe violence is justified.”
Defendants and their family members pleaded for leniency.
Autumn Hill said the gathering “seemed more like a party to me than
anything else” and that she and others who participated “didn’t
expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.”
Hill’s attorney, Cody Cofer, told the judge that there was no
evidence she had a gun, nor that she believed in violence to achieve
change. He said that after fireworks were set off, she was so
conscientious that she made sure to pick up the trash left behind
before leaving.
Chris Tolbert, defendant Savanna Batten's attorney, has said that
his client didn’t bring a firearm, spray paint or fireworks to the
center, nor did she participate in the planning of the
demonstration.
Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.
Another defendant, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was not at Prairieland
the night of the shooting or involved in the planning, his attorney
Christopher Weinbel said. Sanchez Estrada, who is married to another
of the defendants, was convicted only on charges of concealing
documents.
Weinbel said his client just moved a box of his own belongings of
artwork, poetry, journals and zines after the shooting. Nothing in
the box was illegal, Weinbel said.
Sanchez Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material
support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the
Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. They
claimed the demonstrators were members of antifa who conspired
against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by
setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks
of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.
___
Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kendria
LaFleur contributed.
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