Oppression and resistance: the DHS Diaries
PWS weekly on ICE, Border Patrol, and the brave communities , organizations, and individuals resisting their fascist policies
US convicts 9 in “Antifa trial.” It’s a grave violation of the 1st amendment
The first US federal case involving protesters designated as “terrorists” by the administration wrapped up this week. It was a mixed verdict, but overall a victory for the government against a group of left-wing protesters that prosecutors claimed were “an antifa terror cell.”
Nine protesters at a “noise protest” outside of an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas faced 65 charges ranging from providing material support for terrorists to attempted murder. An Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck while responding to the protest. The officer survived.
Benjamin Song, who shot the responding officer, was convicted for attempted murder and the illegal discharge of a firearm. But that isn’t what raises eyebrows about the case.
Prosecutors alleged a conspiracy between the nine defendants, one of whom was not even at the nighttime protests. The administration classification of “antifa” as a “domestic terror organization” is an informal designation that carries no legal weight.
The right of dissent is clearly protected by the 1st amendment in the US. Nonetheless, the government framed defendants as a “dangerous terrorist cell” who “planned an ambush” of DHS personnel and police.
Defendants say the demonstration was meant to be peaceful, and that 8 of the protesters were completely uninvolved in the shooting.
Eight defendants were convicted of rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and use and carry of an explosive — the explosive being fireworks deployed during the protest.
The defendant who was not at the protest, Daniel Sanchez Estrada was convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record. Estrada was moving “zines”, pamphlets about social organizing and leftist ideas — documents whose publication and possession are clearly protected by the 1st amendment as well, at least in theory.
He and his wife, Rueda, were also convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents, and providing material aid to a terrorist organization.
The government has called it the first domestic terrorism case targeting antifa since President Trump declared the ideology a domestic terrorist threat last year. Experts say the outcome could determine the playbook for how the Trump administration targets left-wing movements.
“Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that has been allowed to flourish in Democrat-led cities — not under President Trump,” read a statement from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.”
Antifa is neither an organization nor “terrorists”. It is simply an orientation: being willing to resist fascism. That is clearly considered threatening to the United States.
ICE has been racially profiling: a trend that has led to the detainment of US citizens, finds Oregon judge
ICE agents testifying in court in Oregon as part of a class-action lawsuit against the agency for detaining people without warrants admitted to the court that the agency imposes arrest quotas on its agents.
The lawsuit was filed by immigration non-profit Innovation Law Lab. The group claims that warrantless arrests form part of a pattern of racial profiling and unconstitutional arrests. The judge sided with plaintiffs, ordering ICE to end the practice.
Testimony in a December hearing in the case provided a remarkable acknowledgment by an ICE officer of how daily target arrest numbers played out at the local level, and appeared to contradict the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials’ repeated claims that officers didn’t have quotas. Trump adviser Stephen Miller has publicly said the administration’s target was 3,000 daily arrests. The hearing also appeared to be the first time that ICE disclosed in court its use of an app called Elite for operations.
According to court testimony of ICE officials obtained by the Guardian, the Elite app is “kind of like Google Maps” and shows how many individuals with an “immigration nexus” are believed to be in a certain area. Another officer testified that a “nexus” could mean any history of contact with immigration officials, which could include a naturalized US citizen.
Elite, JB said, helped officers identify areas with a more “dense population”, meaning a higher likelihood of finding people to detain. Another agent described the Woodburn complex as a “target-rich” area. JB said he did not know how Elite “leads” were generated, saying the app “pulls from all kinds of sources”.
Officials also added that the app is often inaccurate and that mistaken arrests were made often, especially for Spanish speakers.
According to a report by 404 Media, a tech news site, the app was built by Palantir, the data analytics firm that has contracts with the DHS and the Department of Defense. The app is one of many that have reportedly been used by DHS which collects information not merely on potential targets but also on activists and protesters.
Accusations of racial profiling by DHS has become commonplace. A district judge in Minnesota recently ruled that the practice was widespread there as well.
The Round-Up
Eleven people have died in DHS custody since January, meaning 2026 is on track to beat 2025 as the deadliest year for detainees in the agency’s custody in its existence. Two died last week: Emmanuel Damasm a 56-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, and Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a veteran of the Afghan war. Damasm died in U.S. ICE custody after staff allegedly denied him treatment for a tooth infection.Paktiawal’s death is currently under investigation.
Before DHS officers killed two US citizens in Minnesota, they killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a San Antonio man that DHS claimed attacked officers with his car. New video of the incident shows that DHs, as in many previous cases, are lying liars. The newly released video shows that DHS are blatantly false, surprising exactly no one.
The administration of Donald Trump has toned down migration rhetoric in recent weeks, as we have reported before. Last week, they sent a memo to lawmakers in Washington suggesting that Republicans stop speaking of mass deportations and instead focus their rhetoric on ICE detentions of convicted criminals.
Department of Homeland Security leaders removed top privacy officers who objected to mislabeling government records to block their public release, according to a new report by WIRED.
New details emerged in how DHS is investing in mass-surveillance software and equipment thanks to documents the government claimed were “hacked.”
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Hasta pronto, piratas!
