A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A federal judge has given lengthy sentences to eight people who participated in an anti-ICE demonstration outside a Texas immigrant detention center last year. The group faced terrorism charges after the nonfatal shooting of a police officer at the facility. Dylan Duke with member station KERA reports from North Texas.
DYLAN DUKE, BYLINE: Federal prosecutors accuse the demonstrators of being affiliated with antifa, which is short for antifascist - a far-left ideology, not a centralized organization. President Donald Trump designated antifa a domestic terrorist organization last year. Defendant Benjamin Song was sentenced to 100 years in prison. He was charged with shooting and injuring a police officer outside the Prairieland Detention Center during a July 4 protest. The judge said he didn't take responsibility. Song's mother, Hope Song, said the prosecution misportrayed her son's actions during the noise demonstration.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HOPE SONG: He's accepted full responsibility for what actually happened. But he will never accept responsibility for a lie - a government lie made to prosecute innocent people.
DUKE: Benjamin Song claimed during his sentencing that he opened fire at the officer out of fear that protesters would be shot at. The judge barred Song's attorneys from arguing during the trial that Song shot at the officer in self-defense. Lydia Koza is the wife of defendant Autumn Hill, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her alleged involvement in planning the shooting.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LYDIA KOZA: In the face of this grotesque distortion of anything that could ever have called itself due process, I am livid.
DUKE: FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that his agency remains committed to dismantling antifa. The defendants have denied being members of any terrorist group, and they say they're being politically persecuted. Seven more people who pleaded guilty will be sentenced July 1.
For NPR News, I'm Dylan Duke.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.