A group of eight people described as tied to Antifa have learned their fate in Fort Worth, where they were sentenced following a domestic terrorism conviction. The case centered on an armed assault outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, and the sentences brought to a close a prosecution that had drawn close attention to the violence that unfolded there.
The attack took place outside the ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, on the Fourth of July last year. What began near the facility on the holiday escalated into an armed confrontation, turning the site into the scene of a shooting that would later be prosecuted as an act of domestic terrorism.
According to the account of events, the group used fireworks as a distraction before opening fire. In the course of the assault, a police officer was shot and wounded in the neck. The use of the holiday fireworks as cover underscored what authorities described as a planned element to the attack rather than a spontaneous outburst.
The legal reckoning came in two stages. The eight defendants were found guilty in March, and the sentencing followed at the court in Fort Worth. The convictions tied each of the defendants to the assault outside the detention center and set the stage for the punishments handed down.
The sentences varied sharply in severity. The man identified as the ringleader of the group, Benjamin Song, was sentenced to life in prison. The seven other defendants received sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years, leaving the entire group facing decades or more behind bars.
At the sentencing, the defense sought to present a fuller picture of the ringleader. A lawyer said that, apart from the day of the attack, Song had led an impeccable life, describing him as a former Marine and a good student who had many good qualities that, in the lawyer's view, were ignored. The contrast between that portrait and the life sentence captured the gulf between the two sides as the case closed.