Federal prosecutors have increasingly described attacks on immigration enforcement facilities as domestic security cases tied to organized protest activity. In North Texas, that focus sharpened on June 23, 2026, when a former Marine reservist was sentenced for the armed assault on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado.
Fort Worth sentencing brings 100-year term in Prairieland attack case
Benjamin Song, identified by the Associated Press and the Justice Department as a former U.S. Marine reservist, was sentenced Tuesday, June 23, to 100 years in federal prison in Fort Worth. According to the Associated Press, Song was convicted of opening fire during the July 4, 2025 demonstration outside the Prairieland Detention Center, wounding an Alvarado police officer in the neck.
The Justice Department said earlier this year that nine North Texas antifa cell operatives were convicted by a federal jury for their roles in the incident. Federal prosecutors said the group used weapons and explosives, obstructed law enforcement, and carried out an attempted murder during the attack on the ICE detention center in Johnson County.
AP reported that seven other defendants sentenced in related proceedings received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years. The sentencing followed convictions tied to rioting, weapons use, and support for what prosecutors characterized as terrorism-related conduct, while defense attorneys disputed the government’s characterization of the group and rejected antifa ties.
The case is rooted in Alvarado, a city south of Fort Worth, where the Prairieland Detention Center became the site of a July 4 holiday protest that escalated into gunfire. According to AP’s earlier reporting on the case, attackers dressed in black military-style clothing allegedly set off fireworks and spray-painted vehicles and a guard structure before shots were fired.
The injured officer was an Alvarado police officer responding to the scene, and AP reported after the shooting that he was later released from the hospital. The Justice Department has said the attack also targeted federal officers and correctional personnel working at the detention center.
What remains unclear publicly is whether every defendant’s post-sentencing appeal plan has been finalized and how the broader prosecution of other people charged after the attack will conclude. Public reporting and Justice Department statements have established the prison terms imposed on eight convicted defendants, but authorities have not released any broader new operational changes for the Alvarado facility tied specifically to this week’s sentencing.
The Justice Department has consistently described the Prairieland case as a coordinated, preplanned assault rather than a protest that turned chaotic without preparation. In its public statement on the convictions, the department said participants were found guilty on charges including attempted murder, firearms offenses, obstruction and providing material support to terrorists.
That framing matters because it explains the scale of the penalties imposed this week. AP reported that prosecutors called the crime an act of terrorism, a position that helped shape the government’s sentencing arguments as it sought lengthy prison terms for the defendants convicted in the case.
For North Texas residents, the immediate takeaway is that the federal case tied to the 2025 Prairieland shooting has now produced one of its harshest outcomes, with Song receiving the maximum punishment reported by AP. The sentencing also signals that federal prosecutors are continuing to pursue immigration facility attacks as major criminal cases, with court challenges and appeals expected to determine what comes next for the defendants already sentenced.