Who Gets Prosecuted?
Not the pedophiles from the Epstein files
It’s past time for me to write about the Prairieland Defendants, activists who just received draconian (no exaggeration) sentences for protesting at an ICE concentration camp. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants conspired to shoot a guard outside Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.
One defendant, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was not even present at the noise demonstration on July 4, 2025 but was nonetheless sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for transporting a box of zines (flyers) with anti-ICE content.
From the Prairieland Defendants website:
The state alleges that toward the end of the demonstration an individual fired a gun at an Alvarado police officer. The officer was allegedly injured in the neck and was released from the hospital within hours.
The prosecution alleges that this was a coordinated ambush planned by all those in attendance. The subject of the manhunt and only accused shooter, Benjamin “Champagne” Song, is claimed to have been hidden by a number of individuals.
The DOJ claims that the defendants are part of a violent ideological movement they call “antifa.” As evidence they cite zines, political rhetoric, and many practices common for activists such as using Signal, wearing black, and asserting their rights when arrested..
The spouse [Estrada] of one defendant [Maricela Rueda] was arrested and charged with federal obstruction of justice with the evidence of a box of anarchist zines found in his car..
One of those arrested as part of the manhunt was charged with tampering with physical evidence for removing someone from group chats. (emphasis mine)
For months, defendants were held in horrible conditions. They were held in isolation, subject to invasive and unnecessary strip searches, denied access to lawyers, and had legal notes confiscated. One defendant was placed in a cell with feces smeared on the walls and told to clean it herself.
“Group chats” is a reference to the supposedly secure, encrypted messaging service Signal. Many believe that the weak link is to be found in iPhone archives of pop up notifications if a Signal user has this feature enabled. In other words, if Signal chat posts show up on the lock screen of your iPhone. (I became aware of this security issue when an organizer reported that a co-worker saw their phone and questioned why they were receiving messages from a humorously named group chat.)
Similar lawfare-style harassment of an ICE rapid response network in Minnesota produced a federal indictment listing various Signal user names of defendants who were charged. An excerpt:
From the legal defense fundraiser website of the Twin Cities defendants:
On the morning of June 16th 2026 fifteen anti-ICE organizers were indicted on federal conspiracy charges in Minnesota, 12 of whom were arrested in aggressive raids across the Twin Cities. This fundraiser is organized by the friends and family of the defendants, all funds raised will go directly to support the defendants through their trial.
In his press conference, Trump’s US District Attorney Daniel Rosen tried to smear these fifteen defendants by alleging that they are the ones who are really putting the community in danger and not ICE. These 15 defendants are members of our community -- they are workers, union members, tradespeople and educators, musicians and artists; they are people who know their neighbors and who care about them, who stood up with the rest of us to oppose the federal invasion of our cities.
Similar convictions in Spokane, Washington targeted anti-ICE protesters and claimed they conspired to oppose federal immigrations practices. As reported in The Guardian:
Robert Chang, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine school of law and executive director of its Fred T Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, called the verdict “frightening.. By this logic, any protest could be a conspiracy.. The goal posts keep moving.”
Lisa Brown, the Spokane mayor, slammed the ruling, calling the prosecution “politically motivated” and “meant to make an example out of people who disagreed with federal immigration policy”. She called “the right to peacefully protest and criticize the government a cornerstone of our democracy”.
I could go on citing similar cases, but you get the drift: protesting the modern day Gestapo will not be tolerated.
What will be tolerated: the rape of children by wealthy, powerful men. (If you are paywalled out of investigative reporter Julie K. Brown’s article “Who are the 25 men hiding behind Secret Epstein Victim Settlements?” you can read it here on reddit.)
No federal indictments of anyone. In New Mexico, no investigations of alleged deaths at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch. Also no investigations of Epstein’s relationship with former Governor Bill Richardson or of his connections to NM’s nuclear weapons industry.
Do you really believe we can vote our way out of this bipartisan problem with our justice system?
Are we too intimidated to keep organizing resistance to unlawful detention of immigrants and those who support them?
Maybe this Prairieland info graphic will inspire us:
Donate now to support legal defense for Janette and her co-defendants. It’s the least we can do.
The very definition of travesty! Time to mobilize the severest satire and ridicule. As I have often said "Satirists of the World Unite! You have Nothing to Lose but Your Cheneys."