An armed mob arrested for shooting up a Texas immigration detention center last month are reportedly members of a secretive network of far-left “anti-fascists” trained in self-defense and firearms.
An ex-US Marine Corps reservist and 10 others were nabbed after the group, who were clad in black military-style clothing, opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado back on July 4 — leaving one cop shot in the neck.
In the wake of the attack, it has emerged that several of the suspects have apparent ties to left-wing extremist groups operating out of Dallas, the Washington Post reported.
Some of them were allegedly trained by Benjamin Hanil Song — the former reservist charged with attempted murder in connection with the attack.
Song would allegedly host weekly sessions to train people for “close quarters combat and large-scale gunfights.”
“The people that were showing up to learn from him — a lot were very young, naïve leftists,” said Corey Lyon, a libertarian who attended some of the sessions but later cut ties with Song.
“They were scared. And Ben was offering them a solution for their fear.”
The group of alleged agitators, which includes some transgender activists, is believed to have met during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
They initially focused on social justice demonstrations but have since turned their focus to ICE enforcement.
At one point, Song and several others who were arrested had all belonged to the John Brown Gun Club’s Elm Fork chapter – a leftist gun-rights group known for its hard anti-police stance, sources said.
The Elm Fork chapter disbanded in 2023 when three of its members were nabbed for pepper-spraying members of a conservative group who were rallying against drag shows in Fort Worth.
The left-wing gun club, which is among a slew of similar anti-fascist organizations to pop up in recent years, was established largely to counter the right-wing militias during the BLM movement.
It wasn’t immediately clear exactly how many of the alleged ICE attackers were involved with the anti-fascist networks in the area.
A number of these so-called anti-fascist activists are known for joining multiple groups, which routinely split off into factions or disband altogether.
Song, who was arrested after a weeklong search, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder of federal agents and three counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
He’s also accused of purchasing four of the guns linked to the attack.
Two of the other 10 arrested — Autumn Hill and Meagan Morris — are transgender.
They were all slapped with a slew of charges, including attempted murder of a federal officer, discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and obstruction of justice for concealing evidence.
During the attack, the alleged perps initially set off fireworks, and damaged cars and a guard structure by spray-painting “traitor” and ”ICE pig” on them.
A flag saying “Resist fascism, fight oligarchy,” and flyers with words such as “Fight ICE terror with class war” also were recovered near the center.
The attack “seemed to be designed” to draw ICE personnel outside the facility, Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said at the time.
“It was a planned ambush with the intent to kill ICE corrections officers,” she said.
