Salon: “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….

Robert Saleem Holbrook, the executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center, said that he was not optimistic about the chances of the defendants winning on appeal at the Fifth Circuit.”

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