By Benny Schaft
March 27, 2026
On March 14, a Fort Worth, Texas, jury found nine activists guilty on charges of terrorism and attempted murder. This was in response to their role in organizing a peaceful noise demonstration at the Prairieland Immigration Customs and Enforcement detention center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, 2025. The nine defendants convicted are Savannah Batten, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, Zacjaru Evetts. Autumn Hill, Megan Morris, Maricela Rudea, Benjamin Song, Elizabeth Soto and Innes Soto. Seven others, Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas, pleaded guilty last year to one count of providing material support to terrorists.
The trial was nothing more than a kangaroo court. The prosecution relied solely on biased propaganda to make their case with witnesses who could not verify what actually happened and with recycled “bogeyman” arguments of some imaginary, organized “Antifa” cell structure. This is a claim that both the prosecution and the Trump administration have repeatedly screamed about despite it having no basis in reality.
That bogus claim was debunked by the defense and the defendants themselves, who openly refuted any suggestion of membership in cells or with “Antifa.” Lynette Sharp stated plainly while on the stand that the study group they were part of was not a recruiting group for “Antifa” and had no affiliation with any such organization. This alone should make clear that the sole purpose of the trial was not about justice or fairness but to make an example of activists who dare to criticize and organize in solidarity against the kidnapping and murder of immigrants.
These frame-up trials are part of the repressive state apparatus to protect the oppressive rule of the billionaire capitalist class and their profit system. This class is willing to violate due process, ignore the right to a fair trial and use the courts as weapons against anyone who refuses to stay silent against injustice.
This is not an anomaly; it is a daily function of the courts and prison systems in every capitalist country, including the U.S. Capitalism requires a monopoly on violence to sustain itself, and that means jailing people for organizing and for refusing to be exploited any longer.
This trial is far from being the only example. History is full of moments where the ruling class railroaded people though the courts for daring to resist. Charles Turner Torrey was targeted by the state in the 1840s for his work in the abolitionist movement against enslavement. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been a political prisoner for more than 44 years. Similar to Torrey and the Prairieland defendants, Abu-Jamal was railroaded to death row and eventually resentenced to life without parole in his 1982 conviction for the alleged murder of a Philadelphia police officer, even as evidence pointed otherwise.
So, what happens next to the nine? The people are already showing that the fight is not over, with organizations like the Prairieland Defense Committee and the Fire Ant Movement continuing to organize for the freedom of the nine. Despite the verdict and comrades’ sentencing set for June 18, the work will not stop.
The movement must continue, not only for the nine but for every political prisoner held by this reactionary, fascistic government. The only path forward is to keep building a vanguard of the working class. Only through that process can we free these heroic activists, dismantle the structures that imprisoned them and lay the foundation for true people’s government. The struggle continues!
Go to prairielanddefendants.com and workers.org/2026/03/91485 for more information.
