Daniel Sanchez-Estrada didn’t attend the protest. He didn’t throw anything at law enforcement. He didn’t even know most of the people involved. But a Texas judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison — partly for moving a box of zines.
The case stems from a July 4th, 2025 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. Roughly a dozen people showed up. Some set off fireworks and shouted slogans in Spanish through a bullhorn. A few slashed an ICE van’s tires, broke a security camera, and damaged a guard shack. Things escalated when someone fired a rifle at a police officer, shooting him in the neck. The officer survived after spending hours in the hospital.
Understandably, the shooter — Benjamin Song — got a stiff sentence: 100 years in prison for attempted murder and terrorist charges. But the sentences handed down to others at the same protest are what’s shocking civil liberties advocates. Two people, Savanna Batten and Elizabeth Soto, weren’t involved in planning anything. They arrived separately from the others. They left when guards told them to. They each got 50 years.
The government’s theory? They belonged to an “Antifa cell” that distributed insurrectionary materials — zines. The zines in question were made for a book club named after anarchist organizer Emma Goldman. Topics included feminism and, yes, “the eradication of artificial intelligence from the face of the earth.” The DOJ reportedly conceded the zines weren’t illegal. But it argued that tabling at a zine fair constituted “material support to terrorists.”
These sentences are a major victory for the Trump administration, which has made cracking down on so-called Antifa activists a top priority following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche celebrated the sentences as proof that the law will come down hard. But many of those sentenced never attacked anyone or damaged any property. The DOJ is essentially criminalizing association and political expression.
More cases are already in the pipeline. Last week, 15 people in Minnesota were indicted on similar charges related to protests against ICE operations. FBI Director Kash Patel says more are coming. If the government succeeds in punishing people for trailing ICE officers, the chilling effect on protest activity nationwide will be enormous.
