







Nine members of the “Prairieland 19,” anti-ICE protesters in Texas who the Trump administration is dubiously accusing of domestic terrorism, are going on trial this week. The case is a test for how easily Trump might criminalize dissent going forward.
The ‘Antifa Scare’ Goes on Trial in North Texas
As nine of the "Prairieland 19" face their days in court, the broader constitutional rights of left-wing activists may hang in the balance.

The Next Step in Criminalizing ICE Protests Is Here
First came Prairieland. Now an indictment treats mutual aid and road-blocking as a criminal conspiracy

Trump wants to prosecute anti-fascists as terrorists. This Texas trial will test his power.
A July 4 shooting at an ICE detention center could change the way the federal government prosecutes activists.

From Haymarket to Prairieland: How dissent has unleashed the long arm of the law
The Prairieland sentencing has dark historical parallels, Kim Kelly writes. But we can change the end of the current story.

A Dallas man removed Prairieland defendants from group chats. Now he's accused of aiding terrorism
Dario Sanchez, 32, shared in interviews with KERA News his perspective on the charges he's facing related to a shooting that occurred outside the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025. Sanchez was not at the shooting but has been arrested three times in connection.

Eight Federal Prairieland Defendants Sentenced Today to Prison Terms Ranging From 30-100 Years for Common Protest Activity - Support the Prairieland Defendants
Family Members, Faith and Community Leaders, Rally in Support of Defendants, Vow to Continue Fight for Freedom, Justice for Loved Ones

These Dallas Residents Are on the Front Lines of Trump’s War Against “Antifa”
If convicted, people who showed up to a protest could face “decades of prison time,” the National Lawyers Guild says.

8 convicted in Texas immigration center shooting and protest are sentenced to decades in prison
Eight people accused by the Justice Department of having ties to antifa have been sentenced to decades in federal prison over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center during a protest.
Ken Paxton wanted to limit forum shopping. Now lawyers say he’s improperly seeking favorable courts.
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have identified at least 30 lawsuits filed by the attorney general over the past nine years that have a tenuous connection to the counties in which they were filed.

Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury
The case is a major test of the Trump administration's push to label "antifa" protesters as terrorists.

The Deepfake Defense—Exploring the Limits of the Law and Ethical Norms in Protecting Legal Proceedings from Lying Lawyers
Thousands of audiovisual images documented the insurrectionists who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Authorities subsequently collected tho
Minnesota ICE Enforcement: Alleged Constitutional Violations
The ACLU and partners sued over alleged racial profiling and unlawful arrests in Minnesota. Read sworn declarations and case details.

The Deepfake Defense—Exploring the Limits of the Law and Ethical Norms in Protecting Legal Proceedings from Lying Lawyers
Thousands of audiovisual images documented the insurrectionists who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Authorities subsequently collected those images and charged some for their criminal conduct. Given the overwhelming audiovisual evidence implicating the insurrectionists, it should be impossible to assert a plausible defense claiming that those unmistakably depicted in the images were not present. Right? Wrong. As the defense in the federal criminal trial of January 6th insurrectionist leader Guy Reffitt illustrated, the emergence of “deepfakes” has changed the landscape of plausible defenses to crimes. Reffitt led the attack on the Capital. Videos and other visual images showed him at the head of the crowd advancing on the Capitol’s West Terrace. He was arrested and charged with multiple crimes. And although the evidence, including audiovisual images, against Reffitt, was clear and overwhelming, his lawyer undermined it, arguing to the jury that the evidence against Reffitt was a “deepfake” – an audiovisual recording created using Artificial Intelligence technology that allows anyone with a smartphone to believably map one person’s movements and words onto the image of another person. Unfortunately, the law does not provide a clear response to Reffitt’s lawyer’s reliance on deepfakes as a defense. <br><br>But this much is clear—the “deepfake defense” is a new challenge to our legal system’s adversarial process and truth-seeking function. Because the norms of professional ethics require lawyers to advocate zealously, deepfakes invite lawyers to raise objections and arguments to evidence to exploit juror bias and skepticism about what is real. Thus, lawyers may plant the seeds of doubt in jurors’ minds to question the authenticity of all digital audio and visual images, even those counsel knows to be genuine.<br><br>Currently, no rule of procedure, ethics, or legal precedent directly addresses the presentation of the “deepfake defense” in court. The existing standards provide scant guidance because they were developed before the advent of deepfake technology. As a result, they do not solve the concern of how to deter lawyers from exploiting it. Although in the last several years, legal scholarship and the popular news media have addressed certain facets of deepfakes, there has been no in-depth commentary on the “deepfake defense.” This article is the first to explore the deepfake defense, locating it within the historical and current framework of lawyers’ efforts to fabricate evidence and the laws and the practice norms that exist to curb that conduct. It proposes a reconsideration of the ethical rules governing candor, fairness, and the limits of zealous advocacy and urges a re-examination of the court’s role in sanctioning such conduct. Thus, this article offers novel proposals to guide the way forward for lawyers and courts as they traverse this new technological landscape.
They Walk Among Us - Criminal ICE and Border Agents — Ohio Immigrant Alliance
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance released “They Walk Among Us: A List of 59 Sexually and Physically Abusive ICE and Border Agents,” an analysis of sexual and violent crimes committed by ICE and Border Patrol agents. It report documents 59 cases of violent and/or sexual criminal acts by DHS employees.

The wonderful @marisakabas.bsky.social let me go long on the grim historic parallels between the Prairieland defendants and 19th century America’s brutal repression—and execution—of anarchists, union organizers, and political dissidents. We are all antifa now. thehandbasket.co/p/haymarket-prairieland-sente…
From Haymarket to Prairieland: How dissent has unleashed the long arm of the law
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