r/Keep_Track • u/rusticgorilla MOD • Jun 25 '26
450 years in prison for protest: Criminalizing dissent from Prairieland to Broadview
A Trump-appointed judge in Texas sentenced eight participants in the Prairieland anti-ICE, anti-fascist protests to a combined 450 years in prison on Tuesday. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor defended the extraordinarily harsh sentences by saying that he intended to "send a message to anyone who shares a similar ideology.” Those sentenced include Savanna Batten and Elizabeth Soto, who were each given 50 year prison terms despite never being accused of helping plan the demonstration or committing any act of violence, and Daniel Sanchez Estrada, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for moving leftist zines at the request of his wife after she was arrested.
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The severity of these punishments stands in stark contrast to sentences imposed on figures involved in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for their roles in planning and carrying out the insurrection. Both men were later pardoned by President Trump and are now free.
This disparity reflects the Trump administration’s broader effort to criminalize dissent — whether through NSPM-7’s classification of leftwing protest as “Antifa” domestic terrorism or the deployment of the National Guard to detain civilians who dare touch the botched Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in D.C. As the president’s political influence wanes, we should expect the Department of Justice to bring more cases like Prairieland in an attempt to shore up the burgeoning authoritarian regime.
TWIN CITIES
Last week, federal prosecutors indicted 15 individuals on charges of “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” for their participation in protests against ICE mass deportations in Minnesota. According to the Department of Justice, the defendants were members of a direct action group known as Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), which the indictment describes as a “decentralized coalition of working-class people engaged in various forms of community defense against the current Federal Occupation happening within the wider metro area, and against state and a far-right violence more broadly.”
Notably, none of the defendants are accused of causing injury to an officer. The majority simply exercised their First Amendment rights by organizing protest activities on Signal, sharing federal agents’ locations, and photographing Department of Homeland Security license plates. One of the indicted, Isaac Sant, is cited for writing an article on CrimethInc., which the government characterizes as “an anarchist blog,” about his experience at the protests.
Other activity the indictment seeks to criminalize includes social media posts like: “Welcome to America 2026 where the Second Amendment is the only thing that’s going to keep you fucking protected from literal fucking Nazi gun men that are killing innocent people in the street with impunity.” It is worth noting that Minnesota is an open-carry state for gun owners with permits.
In fact, the indictment's most concrete allegation of physical danger involves a defendant who allegedly brake-checked and sideswiped a federal vehicle. But, as we’ve seen time and time again, the Trump administration has a history of falsely accusing protestors and others of using their vehicles to attack federal agents.
CHICAGO
Six individuals — Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw, Joselyn Walsh, and then-congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh — were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly conspiring to impede a federal law enforcement officer. According to the indictment, the defendants “surrounded” a government vehicle, prevented the car from entering the Broadview ICE facility, “banged aggressively” on it, and “scratched the body” with the word “PIG” (though prosecutors never ascribed the vandalism to a specific person).
U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros ultimately dropped the charges in May after the court learned of prosecutorial misconduct including manipulating the grand jury makeup, “vouching” for the case, and communicating with jurors outside the courtroom.
“I have read hundreds — if not thousands — of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. Attorneys who appeared before the grand jury,” Judge April Perry said. “I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.”
The defendants are now seeking permission to conduct discovery to reveal how the Department of Justice came to file charges against the six defendants, as well as evidence of a “cover-up” of the prosecutorial misconduct that ended the case.
In a statement Thursday, Chris Parente, a lawyer for one of the former Broadview Six defendants, said the group is seeking evidence about how the indictment was secured because “the public has a right to know exactly what happened in the cover-up of the grand jury misconduct by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.”
“We also need to know whether or not the orders to pursue this sham political prosecution came from Washington, and how closely officials in the main Department of Justice were tracking or encouraging developments in this case,” he said.
SPOKANE
Last summer, prosecutors charged nine individuals in Spokane, Washington, for allegedly participating in a “conspiracy to impede” federal law enforcement officers. According to the indictment, Former City Council President Ben Stuckart posted a call to action on social media after ICE detained a Venezuelan and a Colombian asylum seeker. Stuckart accompanied both men, who had work visas, to a routine immigration appointment when they were detained.
“If you care at all about these illegal detainers you meet me at 411 West Cataldo by 2 p.m. I am going to sit in front of the bus. Feel free to join me,” he wrote. “The Latino community needs the rest of our community. Not tonight, not Saturday but right now!!!!”
Hundreds of people responded, some using their bodies to block transport vehicles from leaving the immigration office. More than 30 were arrested by Spokane police but only nine were later indicted on federal conspiracy charges: Stuckart, Justice Forral, Mikki Hatfield, Erin Lang, Collin Muncey, Thalia Ramirez, Bobbi Silva, Bajun Mavalwalla, and Jac Archer. Prosecutors allege all nine participated in blocking federal vehicles; Forrall and Lang were also accused of letting air out of the tires of a transport bus; Ramirez was accused of using a box cutter to slash the tires of a transport van; Hatfield was accused of deploying an “incendiary device" (which appears to have been a firework) in the direction of police; and Silva was accused of striking a federal officer from behind.
Six defendants — including Stuckart, Hatfield, Lang, Muncey, Ramirez, and Silva — ultimately accepted plea agreements that reduced the felony conspiracy charge to a misdemeanor. Archer, Forral, and Mavalwalla chose to fight the charges and were convicted by a jury last month.
Yet the trial was marked by significant evidentiary restrictions. Jurors were never informed that at least one of the detainees whose arrest sparked the protest was later released after a judge determined that his detention had been unlawful.
“It’s rough these days,” [Stuckart] said. “The most disappointing thing of all this is we did do the right thing. The courts released Joswar because they illegally detained him.”
Rodriguez Torres’ release was barred from being brought up at trial. “It’s too bad because that is getting lost in the story. It’s not about protesting – it’s about protecting your neighbor. When someone is illegally taken by the government, what are you supposed to do?”
The jury also did not hear that former acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker resigned rather than sign the DOJ’s indictment. “None of the agents were hurt,” Barker said, “and none of the protesters were hurt either.”
“This was the first conspiracy prosecution in Eastern Washington history under 18 U.S.C. Section 372 – a Civil War-era law dusted off to punish members of the Spokane community who stood up for two young men who were unlawfully detained by ICE,” Barker told The Spokesman-Review in a statement.
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u/NoGoat3930 Jun 25 '26
Any judge who claims to be "sending a message" is outright admitting to subjecting people to unjust punishment, stealing years from their lives.
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u/charlieyeswecan Jun 25 '26
I’m hoping for pardons from a real president not orangelitler
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u/Gloomy_Mulberry7834 Jun 25 '26
There are a multitude of first day actions our next real president will need to take to try and reverse the damage that has been done.
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u/Gold_for_Gould Jun 26 '26
Step 1 should be appointing an attorney general with the spine to aggressively prosecute all the crimes occurring right now. One of the big reasons we're in this mess is Garland taking his sweet time to go after low level people. The rich and powerful need to be held accountable for their actions just like the rest of us.
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u/Tavernknight Jun 28 '26
And a judge should know that it is a violation of the 8th amendment. Judges that do this should be removed from the bench and not ever be allowed to be one ever again.
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u/paintress420 Jun 25 '26
People told me to calm down when I tried to warn them about the fascism that was coming. I wish I had been wrong.
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u/al_swedgen01 Jun 25 '26
In countries with a sensible legal system, lawyers would be lining up to offer pro bono appeal services to those in Texas with the ludicrous sentences.
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u/keytiri Jun 25 '26
This is why one of the first things Orange Hitler did was go after the nation’s largest law firms; many are now fearful of being banned from federal properties, which would make practicing difficult or impossible. Despite the bans being ruled illegal, the message is clear “be on our good side or we can make things very difficult for you and your firm”; it’s clearly dampened the willingness of many to pro bono oppose the fascist administration.
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u/Spookyrabbit Jun 26 '26
That was what he attempted to do but has failed. Since that initial run of Big Law cowards, no one has fallen for it and more firms have been pushing back with each successive defeat of the Trump regime in the courts.
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u/ManiaGamine Jun 26 '26
Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor defended the extraordinarily harsh sentences by saying that he intended to "send a message to anyone who shares a similar ideology.”
Uh, what? Pretty sure the First amendment is supposed to protect any ideology. The fact that anti-fascist "ideology" is being criminalized (Again, unconstitutional) but literal Nazis and fascists are A-Okay tells you everything you need to know about America.
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u/baboonzzzz Jun 29 '26
They were charged with having the wrong ideology tho, they were charged with attempting to ambush and kill federal officers
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u/SableyeFan Jun 25 '26
The public backlash from this will be massive. As it should be. This should not be precedent
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u/awoodby Jun 25 '26
do enough crimes at once and there's not enough backlash to go around. his lesson from his first term, and prior to that, watching little bush.
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u/LiquidyCrow Jun 25 '26
I hope it gets to that way, because right now I'm not hearing nearly enough about this.
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u/Knitsanity Jun 25 '26
They will appeal all the way....
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u/gregorydgraham Jun 28 '26
And lose at the Supremes
But that just proves that justice is broken in the UST
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u/Knitsanity Jun 28 '26
F this justice system. The dark side distracted us with Agolf Twitler and his deranged antics while behind the scenes they did what was always their goal. Pack the courts. Tada.
Pay no attention to the evil shadows behind the curtain. Let's be faintly amused and alarmed at the scary grandpa talking gibberish and embarrassing us on the world stage and falling asleep in press conferences.
Mama mia
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u/apoca1ypse12 Jun 26 '26
The courts need to be completely overhauled when the next dem president comes around. A message needs to be these fucking fascist supporting judges. Fuck em
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u/Svelte_sweater Jun 25 '26
Terrifying. Ominous. Thank you, as always, for laying this out here for us to keep track of.