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Ringleader Sentenced to 100 Years as Eight Convicted in Texas ICE Ambush Get Decades

The Justice Department says the punishments represent a new federal push to prosecute coordinated Antifa-linked violence.

Overview

  • Federal judges sentenced Benjamin Hanil Song to 100 years and seven co-defendants to terms of about 30 to 70 years following convictions from a March trial, with those sentences handed down on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
  • Prosecutors say the convictions stem from a premeditated July 4, 2025 ambush at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center that involved fireworks, vandalism, explosives or fireworks used as weapons, tactical gear, encrypted Signal messages, Faraday bags and a cache of firearms.
  • Trial evidence offered surveillance and body-camera video, witness testimony including cooperating witnesses, seized weapons and trauma kits, and records of planning and efforts to help the alleged shooter evade capture.
  • Defendants and defense lawyers denied formal Antifa membership, argued they were protesting ICE rather than running a terror enterprise, and said they will appeal; civil-liberties groups warn the case could chill protected protest activity.
  • Federal officials frame the outcome as the first major Antifa-focused domestic terrorism prosecution under the administration’s policy, and separate related pleas and sentencing dates remain for other defendants with maximum exposure up to 15 years and a July 1 hearing scheduled.