The 2025 Alvarado ICE facility incident occurred at the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, United States, on the evening of July 4, 2025. Officials say that eleven or twelve individuals, some in black clothing or body armor, set off fireworks and vandalized parked vehicles and a guard structure outside the center. A person in a green mask in a nearby wooded area allegedly opened fire with a rifle after local police responded; one Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck before returning fire. He was released from the hospital a short time later.[1][2] Court documents identify eleven individuals arrested in the immediate aftermath; within the ensuing month, an alleged shooter was arrested after a manhunt, and five alleged associates were also arrested.[2]
On October 16, 2025, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed terrorism charges against two Alvarado suspects, and in a social media post, United States Attorney GeneralPam Bondi said that the two men were part of "antifa", which she characterized as a "left wing terrorist organization."[3] Major media organizations said this may be the first time that the DOJ has charged anyone with terrorism in connection with alleged antifa activities,[3][4] mirroring statements made by FBI director Kash Patel.[5] In October, an eighteenth person was arrested on a state charge of aiding in the commission of terrorism.[2] In January 2026, a nineteenth person was arrested.[6]
Several defendants say they believed they were attending a peaceful "noise demonstration" and that they had no knowledge of any planned violence.[7][8] Commentators have criticized the government for arresting and charging a suspect for having transported a box containing anarchist literature.[8][9] In November, seven defendants pleaded guilty to federal charges of providing material support to terrorism or damaging property.[10][11] Nine individuals who pleaded not guilty to federal charges are expected to go to trial on February 17.[6]
Alleged sequence of events
Law enforcement statements and court filings allege that an initial group of 11 or 12[1][2][12] gathered near the Prairieland Detention Center at 10:37 pm,[12] several dressed in black "military-style" clothing.[13] Law enforcement officials allege that they conducted a "diversion" to draw ICE officers out into the open; fireworks were set off, and two people separated from the main group and spray-painted vehicles and a guard structure.[1][13] Among the slogans spray-painted by the pair were "Ice pig" and "traitor".[1] The ICE officers called 911 to report the incident to local law enforcement.[13][12]
Two ICE officers emerged from the compound at 10:58 pm; according to law enforcement officials at a July press conference, the ICE officers were unarmed.[12][14] Alvarado police arrived immediately afterwards at 10:59 pm.[12] According to KDFW's account of the federal complaint, one person in the woods shot the officer in the neck while another assailant across the street fired 20 to 30 rounds at correctional officers;[13][14] according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram account of the federal complaint, 10 or 11 rounds were fired from the wooded area,[12] while subsequent reports from KERA reference only a single gunman in the wooded area.[2] Prosecutors showed body camera footage from the Alvarado officer at a preliminary hearing in September, alleging that someone can be heard saying "get to the rifles" before the officer orders them to stop. According to prosecutors, the officer fired three rounds at a gunman in a green mask, who allegedly fired first.[2]
Law enforcement caught nine suspects soon after they fled the scene, recovering "AR-15 style" rifles, 12 sets of body armor, two-way radios, spray paint masks, and flyers with slogans ("Fight ICE terror with class war", "Free all political prisoners").[1][13] Seven suspects were found at a nearby intersection, while one was found fleeing on foot about 3 miles (4.8km) away.[1] A van seen leaving the scene was pulled over by an Alvarado detective, and the driver admitted to transporting people to the ICE facility to "make some noise". Two AR-15 style rifles, two ballistic vests, a handgun, and a ballistic helmet were found in the van; the driver was arrested and jailed.[1] One suspect was found with cellphones inside a bag of the type used to block wireless signals.[13] A flag saying "Resist Fascism. Fight Oligarchy" was recovered.[14]
At least two persons suspected of direct involvement in the incident are said to have evaded the initial pursuit. One was arrested the next day in Oak Cliff.[1] Another suspect, a 32-year-old male former US Marine Corps reservist, was arrested by federal authorities on July 15 after a manhunt.[15] Two additional suspects, one of whom was later identified as his roommate, were arrested for allegedly helping him evade capture.[10][16] According to subsequent court records, he evaded arrest immediately after the incident by hiding in a sunflower field.[10]
Literature seized from the Denton apartment
One of the incident suspects called her mother from jail and asked her to contact a man who had not been arrested; the man then contacted the jailed suspect, who asked him to "move whatever you need to from the house" and tow her car from another jailed suspect's house. FBI agents monitored the man as he arrived at his Garland house, removed several packages, and dropped off a box at a Denton apartment. Federal agents subsequently raided the apartment, discovering anti-government and anarchist documents, largely pamphlets and zines, in what appeared to be the box seen earlier.[1] On July 7,[17] the man was arrested in Denton and charged with tampering with evidence and conspiring to tamper with evidence. He was married to one of the shooting incident suspects, ICE said.[1] Another man, a Dallas teacher, was released on bond but was subsequently arrested two more times, once for deleting messages from the Signal and Discord messaging apps, and again for what officials describe as an attempt to modify a Nintendo Game Boy as a remote triggering device for explosives.[18][19]
Affiliations and ideology
Some suspects arrested have backgrounds in protest activism. Three had prior protest-related arrests but no convictions. One was arrested for criminal trespass for sitting on the ground blocking a bank's door at an "Occupy Dallas" protest in 2011 as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement (the case was dismissed) and for blocking a highway as part of an anti-ICE protest in 2018 (the charge was dropped). A second had been arrested and charged with evading arrest in 2016 at Texas A&M University while protesting a speech there by white supremacistRichard B. Spencer. A third, the former reservist, was initially named (but later removed) by the white nationalist New Columbia Movement in a 2023 lawsuit involving the Elm Fork chapter of the John Brown Gun Club (JBGC), in a counter-protest at a Fort Worth drag show, where members of Elm Fork JBGC were providing security for the event.[1]
A "planning document for civil unrest" recovered from the Denton apartment conveyed anti-law enforcement and anti-government sentiments.[1]
Investigation
After his arrest on July 15, authorities identified the former reservist as a shooter, and said he purchased one AR-15 style rifle found where the shots were allegedly fired. They alleged that the trigger of the rifle had been modified for rapid fire, most likely after purchase.[15] He purchased four of the guns recovered in the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.[1][17]
At least three additional suspects were arrested and identified soon after the incident. A man and a woman were charged with helping the former reservist evade capture.[16] Another woman was held on sealed charges, but jail records indicate she was being held for hindering prosecution of terrorism.[12]
On September 22, six women were arraigned at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth on charges related to the incident.[17] Supporters of the women dispute conspiracy claims and said the women believed they were attending a peaceful protest.[13] The following day, eight men were arraigned at the Fort Worth court on charges relating to the incident. One was ordered held in jail as a flight risk, but the others were released pending a preliminary detention hearing scheduled for September 30.[16]
On November 19, five people—three who were part of the protest but not suspected of the shooting, and two who helped the primary alleged shooter evade arrest—entered a guilty plea to one count of providing material support to terrorists in federal court in Fort Worth. Each faces a potential sentence of 15 years imprisonment and they are expected to be sentenced in March of 2026.[20] An attorney for one of the defendants said his client was only pleading guilty to damaging property. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants were members of the so-called "North Texas Antifa Cell", but attorneys for the defendants denied that such an organization ever existed, pointing to a lack of evidence presented by the government.[10]
On November 24, two women pleaded guilty to federal charges of providing material support for terrorism, admitting to having helped the alleged gunman evade capture. They face a potential sentence of 15 years imprisonment and are also expected to be sentenced in March. The women were part of a group that allegedly met at a hotel in Cleburne to strategize how to help the gunman escape. One of the pair has pleaded not guilty to state charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and hindering the prosecution of terrorism; her trial is expected to start in March 2026.[11]
On January 8, 2026, a nineteenth person was arrested in connection with the incident. She faces two counts of hindering prosecution of terrorism.[6][21] Her alleged role in the incident was initially unclear, but court documents reviewed by KERA the following week allege that she sent messages asking others to delete "digital evidence" and to remove the names of defendants from group chats.[21]
On January 21, 2026, a federal judge fined three defense attorneys $500 each for filing "frivolous" motions requesting more evidence from prosecutors.[22]
Reactions
Supporters of the arrested women dispute conspiracy claims and said the women believed they were attending a peaceful protest.[13] In statements to Truthout and KERA, two women arrested for alleged involvement in the initial incident said they believed they were attending a peaceful "noise demonstration", intended only to "show solidarity with the detainees" by setting off fireworks, and that they had no knowledge of any planned violence.[7][8]
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) released a statement characterizing the arrests as "unchecked state repression". Xavier de Janon, director of Mass Defense for the NLG, criticized the government for holding suspects "in limbo between state and federal jurisdiction" for extended periods, allegedly making it difficult for the suspects to obtain legal representation because the nature of the charges was unclear.[8]
Writing for Truthout in October 2025, Andrew Lee points out that evidence against the defendants includes their possession of protest banners and anarchist literature, which is broadly considered lawful under the First Amendment, and their possession of guns, which is commonplace in Texas and is protected by state laws allowing constitutional carry.[8] In an October article for The Intercept, Natasha Lennard mirrors these concerns, pointing to a lack of evidence for a coordinated advance plan to shoot at government agents.[23]
In a November article for The Intercept, Seth Stern criticizes the government for "characterizing lawful activism and ideologies as terrorist conspiracies" and arresting the Denton apartment suspect for possessing anarchist literature and zines, which is generally considered protected by the First Amendment:[9]
At what point does a literary collection or newspaper subscription become prosecutorial evidence under the Trump administration's logic? Essentially, whenever it's convenient. The vagueness is a feature, not a bug. When people don't know which political materials might later be deemed evidence of criminality, the safest course is to avoid engaging with controversial ideas altogether.
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