Five people accused of backing the antifa movement pleaded guilty Wednesday to terrorism-related charges in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. The pleas stem from a July 4 shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center, an ICE facility, where gunfire wounded a local police officer. Prosecutors say the case is the first to move forward under President Donald Trump’s September executive order labeling antifa a domestic terrorist threat.
The defendants — Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Lynette Sharp, Seth Sikes and John Thomas — each admitted to one count of providing material support to terrorists. According to testimony heard in court, a protest unfolded outside the detention center and escalated quickly. Authorities said some people in the crowd shouted “get to the rifles,” and multiple shots were fired as officers arrived on scene. One Alvarado Police Department officer was struck in the neck and later treated and released from a Fort Worth hospital.
Antifa, short for “anti-fascist,” is a loosely organized collection of far-left activists and groups known for confronting fascism, white supremacists and neo-Nazis, often during protests. Because it is decentralized and not a formal organization, legal scholars have questioned whether a president can unilaterally designate it — or any similar movement — as a terrorist group.
Mary McCord, a former senior Justice Department official and now executive director at Georgetown’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, said there is no federal law allowing the government to officially label a domestic group as a terrorist organization. She added that referring to an “antifa cell” in court filings is more a descriptive term for an alleged conspiracy than a legal classification, and that the executive order itself does not carry independent legal weight in the indictment.
After the arrests in October, FBI Director Kash Patel highlighted the case on X, calling it the first time antifa-aligned extremists had faced terrorism charges tied to the July 4 attack. Trump, ahead of signing the order, posted on Truth Social that he planned to designate antifa “a major terrorist organization,” describing the movement in harsh terms.
The five defendants now await sentencing and could receive up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors said cases against other people charged in connection with the shooting are still ongoing.
