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Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Prairieland sentences brings war on terror home

Protesters at ICE's Prairieland facility recieved far harsher sentences than anyone from Jan. 6's violent mob

Published July 3, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)

In late June in Texas, nine activists were found guilty of a myriad of criminal charges brought against them after an immigration protest grew chaotic — but critics say the charges and sentencing were unusually excessive and represent overreach from the Trump administration. A 2025 Fourth of July noise protest outside an immigration detention center involved activists setting off fireworks near the Prairieland Detention Center in a show of solidarity with those imprisoned under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

However, the protest went awry when a group of protesters broke off and vandalized parts of the facility. When a law enforcement officer responded to the scene and aimed his gun at the protesters, one protester, Benjamin Song, shot his own gun at the officer, striking his shoulder. The officer survived.

Song was ultimately convicted of rioting, explosives charges, and providing material support for terrorism, and received a 100-year sentence for his actions. However, six other protesters — Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Savanna Batten, Elizabeth Soto, Meagan Morris, and Maricela Rueda — were also convicted of rioting, explosives charges and material support for terrorism. All received 50-year sentences but Rueda, who instead received 70 years, as she was also convicted of corruptly concealing a document. Another defendant, Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, did not attend the protest but was still convicted of corruptly concealing a document after prosecutors claimed that he had moved some zines at the request of his wife, Rueda, following her arrest. The ninth defendant, Ines Soto, was sentenced to 50 years on July 1, on charges of rioting, material support for terrorism and conspiracy to carry and use of an explosive.

In the Prairieland case, the terrorism convictions and the draconian sentencing of the protesters at the Prairieland Detention Center represent the culmination of decades of national security law turning inward to criminalize political dissent. However, as in previous eras of American history, the government has wielded this power to attack and criminalize dissent on........

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