Last July 4, a group of 11 protesters, among them a middle school teacher and a UPS worker, held what they called a "noise demonstration" outside the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in the town of Alvarado, Texas, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth. Some spray-painted epithets on cars; others, it being nighttime on the Fourth of July, set off fireworks. There was no real violence at first. But then, an Alvarado police officer, Thomas Gross, arrived on the scene and drew his gun. He was shot, nonfatally, by a person in the woods, Benjamin Song, who was part of the protest.
The result was the arrest of a total of 19 people on a mix of federal and state charges, including at least eight who were not present at the demonstration. Of the 19, nine went to federal trial in Fort Worth in February on a range of charges: five for multiple counts of attempted murder of a police officer and unarmed correctional officers; eight for providing material support to terrorists, rioting, and using and carrying explosives; and two for "corruptly concealing" and conspiracy to conceal documents. In the end, Song was convicted of attempted murder, and he and the others of providing material support to terrorists. Daniel Sanchez Estrada, a green-card holder, was not even present at the protest. The government charged him with transporting "a box that contained numerous antifa materials." In fact, he simply moved a box of anarchist zines, all unrelated to antifa, from his parents’ house to a different house in his hometown of Dallas. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
