A federal jury in Fort Worth, Texas, convicted eight protestors on charges ranging from rioting to attempted murder after a noise demonstration turned violent outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Prairieland Detention Center last summer. Federal prosecutors claim the group was part of an "Antifa Cell" and provided "material support to terrorists." First Amendment legal scholars have raised serious concerns about the chilling effect these prosecutions and convictions will have on future political dissent.
One man's conviction emphasized just how far that chilling effect could go. Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, the husband of one of the convicted protestors, wasn't present at the time of the July 4 demonstration. After receiving a call from his wife, Maricela Rueda, from the Johnston County Jail, in which she told him to do "whatever you need to do" and "move whatever you need to move at the house," officers began watching Sanchez-Estrada, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
