Five people linked to the left-wing militant group antifa pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in this past summer’s attack on a Texas immigration detention facility that left one police officer wounded.
The five suspects — Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Seth Sikes, Lynette Sharp and John Thomas — face up to 15 years in prison after they took pleas Wednesday on federal charges of providing material support to terrorists.
Prosecutors said a sixth defendant, Rebecca Morgan, is expected to plead guilty to similar charges next week in the July 4 shooting outside of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Nine other alleged antifa members connected to the shooting will be arraigned on Dec. 3.
“Four months ago, in an attempt to sow anarchy and chaos and to undermine the rule of law, a coordinated attack was carried out on the Prairieland Detention Center, leaving one of our local law enforcement officers injured and a community in disarray,” said Robert Cerna, the head of ICE’s Dallas Field Office.
“In response, the law enforcement community banded together to expose the cowardly thugs responsible for that heinous attack and hold them accountable,” he continued.
FBI Director Kash Patel previously said that the charges were the first of their kind targeting antifa. That was made possible by the Trump administration designating the far-left group as a domestic terror organization this year.
Antifa traditionally does not abide by a hierarchy or structure that most other terror cells do, but its members have been tied to destructive protests and assaults on conservative activists, largely in deep blue cities such as Portland, Oregon.
President Trump blamed antifa, short for anti-fascist, for the attack in which an Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck.
Prosecutors said the assailants arrived at the facility dressed in black bloc clothing and set off fireworks to incite a law enforcement response.
Once police came to the scene, a member of the cell yelled “get to the rifles” and began raining down gunfire on the officers, according to court documents.
Police shot back at the belligerents, who prosecutors said included Baumann, Gibson and Sikes.
Most of the suspects were arrested at the scene, prosecutors said, but Sharp and Thomas were convicted for helping alleged gunman Benjamin Song avoid capture. He was eventually taken into custody on July 15.
Attacks on federal agents have become more common as the Trump administration seeks to deport illegal immigrants en masse.
The Department of Homeland Security accused a Mexican of opening fire on Border Patrol agents in Chicago this month.
And two Venezuelans were charged with ramming their car into federal vehicles conducting immigration sweeps.
But federal officials are backing off from prosecuting some people charged with violent crimes targeting immigration authorities.
Prosecutors moved to dismiss charges Thursday against a woman who was shot by a Border Patrol agent last month after the DHS originally said the woman plowed her car into federal vehicles.
