In September 2025, President Donald Trump signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, a classified document that directs powerful federal agencies to counter “Domestic Terrorism,”, a loosely defined term with no specific federal criminal charge. Still, the Trump Administration has taken steps to use it as a pretext for targeting and punishing people and organizations who are standing for marginalized communities.
This summer, nine protesters were convicted on terrorism charges with sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years for a noise demonstration occurring on July 4th, 2025, outside the Prairieland ICE facility in Texas that resulted in the shooting of a federal officer.
The charges include a 50-year sentence for protester Autumn Hill, who said she left before the officer was injured, and a 30-year sentence for Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, who was not even present at the site of the shooting and was convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents for moving a box of magazines and pamphlets of “Anti-fascist literature.” Benjamin Song, the shooter, also received 100 years in prison.
Credits:
- Reported and Produced by Ryan Johnson
- Filmed by Vanessa Donovan
- Edited by Evan Stice
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Ryan Johnson:
In September 2025, President Donald Trump signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum seven, a classified document that directs powerful federal agencies to counter domestic terrorism, a loosely defined term with no specific federal criminal charge. Still, the Trump administration has taken steps to use it as a pretext for targeting and punishing people in organizations who are standing up for marginalized communities. The memorandum was also written just days after Trump designated Antifa as a terrorist organization.
Donald Trump:
Antifa is terrible. These aren’t protests. These are crimes, what they’re doing.
Ryan Johnson:
So the memorandum begins by loosely connecting ICE protests in Los Angeles and Portland, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and a 2025 shooting at a Dallas ICE facility. The memorandum states that these incidents occurring in completely different parts of the country are a culmination of sophisticated organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech and prevent the functioning of a democratic society. It also casts a wide net on what the supposed network believes, including anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, and very importantly, anti-fascism.
Donald Trump:
The Antifa, these are bad people. You notice they always attack people that really have never been attacked before.
Ryan Johnson:
So how will the Trump administration seek to enforce the persecution and disbandment of their supposed anti-fascist network through the FBI-led joint terrorism task force, a team that works with local law enforcement networks across the country to conduct counter-terrorism investigations? According to the ACLU, the task force has monitored Black Lives Matter activists, targeted Muslims, journalists, and environmentalists for investigation, including with intimidating visits to their homes or workplaces. Essentially, Trump has ordered the FBI along with other governmental organizations to use the full extent of their power and jurisdiction to investigate left-wing protest and organizing.
Donald Trump:
It should be clear to all Americans that we have a very serious left-wing terror threat in our country, radicals associated with the domestic terror group, Antifa, that you’ve heard a lot about lately, and I’ve heard a lot about them for 10 years. And other far left extremists have been carrying out a campaign of violence against ICE agents and other officials charged with enforcing federal law.
Ryan Johnson:
This summer, nine protestors were convicted on terrorism charges with sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years for a noise demonstration occurring on July 4th, 2025 outside the Prairieland ICE facility in Texas that resulted in the shooting of a federal officer. The charges include a 50-year sentence for protestor Autumn Hill, who said she left before the officer was injured, and a 30-year sentence for Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, who was not even present at the site of the shooting and was convicted for conspiracy to conceal documents for moving a box of magazines and pamphlets of anti-fascist literature. Benjamin Song, the shooter, also received a hundred years in prison. Every defendant was convicted with providing material support to terrorists, a charge that can include services, training, communications equipment, explosives, personnel including themselves, or transportation, which held an added sentence of 15 years. Federal prosecutors accused and convicted the Prairieland nine of being members of what they called an Antifa terror cell.
In a press release from the Department of Justice, FBI director Kash Patel stated that the sentencing showed that the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling Antifa and its funding networks across the country, and that the FBI will continue to work to protect communities across the country from domestic terrorism. What the press release leaves out is that only one person actually committed an act of violence against an officer. The other activists are paying the price for their proximity to the shooter, which the Trump administration deems radical and for participating in very common forms of modern political organizing. Prosecutors convicted the Prairieland nine under these new definitions set forth by the NSPM7, convicting them as an Antifa terror cell, improving it through their handling of printed out political zines and promotional material, wearing similar black clothing the night of the noise demonstration, and their use of signal group chats.
The protestors are now in prison for over twice as long as anybody convicted for participating in the January 6th insurrection. These convictions are unprecedented and only the beginning of the Trump administration’s crackdown on organizing. The intent is to chill speech, intimidate people with left-wing views and crush these movements.
From The Real News Network via This RSS Feed.