Texas ICE Shooting Trial
NPR reports on nine people facing trial today in a Fort Worth, Texas, federal court for a nonfatal shooting outside an ICE detention facility in July 2025. Around a dozen people protested Trump’s immigration crackdown and deportation efforts outside the Prairieland Detention Center. At some point, police and prosecutors say shots were fired, injuring a local police officer. According to NPR, "[t]he case is unique due to the U.S. attorney’s office calling the indictment against the defendants the first in the nation against `violent Antifa cell members' . . . Eight of the individuals face charges of providing material support to terrorists, and one is accused of attempted murder of a federal officer."
If the U.S. government succeeds in convicting the defendants, it could set a nationwide precedent for the prosecution of "domestic terrorists."
UPDATE (Feb. 17 3:30 PST): An interesting turn of events. During voir dire, the judge declared a mistrial. Here is the explanation offered by CBS Texas:
"Once jurors were out of the room, Judge Mark Pittman began scolding defense attorney . . . for the shirt she was wearing. [I]t looked to be a black and white T-shirt with images of protesters on it. . . . Pittman said he saw no choice but to declare a mistrial because there was no way to know how many of the potential jurors had noticed the shirt or had been prejudiced by the shirt. . . . In a press conference afterwards, supporters of the defendants said Clayton wore the shirt in honor of Jesse Jackson . . . . ," who died today.
