Benjamin Hanil Song was sentenced to 100 years in federal prison on June 23, 2026, for his role in an armed attack on an immigration detention facility in North Texas.

Here's what happened: A group affiliated with Antifa opened fire on the Prairieland ICE Detention Center, set explosives at the building, and damaged property. A police officer was shot during the incident. Federal prosecutors charged the participants with serious crimes: attempted murder of law enforcement, using explosives, weapons violations, and terrorism charges.

The prosecution took nearly a year. In July 2025, ten people were charged. By November, nine more were indicted. Seven others agreed to plead guilty. In March 2026, convictions came through. Altogether, 16 people were charged in the case.

Why 100 years? Federal law allows judges to stack sentences—adding one punishment on top of another. When charges include attempted murder and terrorism, the stacked sentences can reach 100 years. A sentence this long isn't usually about predicting how many years someone will actually serve. Instead, it's a judge's way of saying how serious the crime was.

Federal prosecutors chose to charge this as terrorism, not just as violent crime. Under federal law, terrorism charges apply when a crime is meant to pressure or influence government action. Using terrorism charges changed where the case was tried, what punishments were possible, and how the government publicly described it.

Detention centers have been protest flashpoints for years. What made Prairieland different was the level of organization. This wasn't a protest that became violent. It was a structured attack by a group with multiple members and a leader—coordinated from the start.

The case sends a message to the courts and law enforcement: organized attacks on detention facilities will be treated as federal crimes with severe consequences. What happens next—whether this deters similar attacks or fuels arguments that prosecutions are too harsh—depends on what people do with this precedent.