Benjamin Song, leader of the North Texas Antifa Cell, is serving 100 years in federal prison. Maricela Rueda, one of his associates, got 70. Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill, Meagan Morris, and Elizabeth Soto each drew 50. Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada got 30.
One year ago, we were told designating Antifa as a domestic terror organization was authoritarian overreach.
President Trump signed the designation on September 22, 2025, and the results are now a matter of public record. Nine individuals from the North Texas Antifa Cell have been convicted on domestic terrorism charges including rioting, use of weapons and explosives, material support to terrorists, obstruction, and attempted murder. The convictions stem from a July 4, 2025 attack on the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, and assaults on police — an Independence Day assault on federal law enforcement that the designation made prosecutable at an entirely different level.
The sentences aren't slaps on the wrist. Song's century behind bars is the kind of number that changes the calculus for every masked twenty-something weighing whether to show up with a Molotov cocktail. The old game — get arrested, get released, crowdfund bail, repeat — is over.
The domestic side is only half the story. The State Department designated four European-based organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in November, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened a ministerial with representatives from more than 60 countries on the transnational Antifa network. "You are here because this is real and it is getting worse," Rubio told attendees, noting that "Antifa militants and their comrades travel from across Europe" to coordinate operations. The State Department imposed sanctions on Autistici/Inventai, an Italian leftist collective known as the A/I Collective, for its role in the network.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent followed the money. "We are examining where tax-exempt status has been exploited," Bessent said — a line pointed squarely at the nonprofit infrastructure that has funneled resources to groups with Antifa ties. The Treasury Department's investigation identified $80 million from George Soros's foundation directed to extremist-linked organizations, the kind of figure that transforms the "just an idea" talking point from political spin into something closer to obstruction.
Rose City Antifa in Portland, Oregon — the most visible Antifa franchise in the Pacific Northwest — has gone quiet. The organization that operated openly for years, doxxing opponents and coordinating street violence while Portland's leadership looked the other way, is functionally dismantled. The designation gave federal prosecutors jurisdiction the local DAs refused to exercise.
The conviction data also includes charges for attacks on Customs and Border Patrol helicopters — the kind of detail that tends to disappear when the opposition frames Antifa as passionate activists who occasionally break a Starbucks window. Attempted murder of federal agents and attacks on military aircraft sit in a different category, and the sentencing reflects it.
Trump was direct about the designation from the start. "These aren't protests. These are crimes," he said. The White House described Antifa as a "militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow" of the government. Twelve months of convictions and international cooperation suggest the description was accurate.
The previous administration had four years to act on the same intelligence. The street violence was public. The coordination was documented. The attacks on federal facilities were on camera. Biden's DOJ treated Antifa operatives as protest misdemeanors.
