Justice Department files first terrorism charges against suspected Antifa militants after ICE attack in Texas

A federal grand jury indicted two alleged extremists linked to Antifafor an armed attack on anImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas during July 4. Federal authorities said the attack was planned and aimed to kill U.S. officials.

The indictment, issued Wednesday and unsealed Thursday, charges Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts with felony counts including providing material support for terrorism, attempted murder of federal officers and use of firearms in an act of terrorist violence.

Coordinated attack with long guns and fireworks.

According to the federal indictment, Arnold and Evetts are part of a group of at least eleven individuals who ambushed federal agents assigned to the Prairieland Detention Center, a facility under contract with ICE located in Johnson County, Texas.

Investigators detail that the attackers used fireworks as a distraction while vandalizing official vehicles parked outside the center. Amid the confusion, one of the assailants reportedly shouted "Go for the rifles!" before opening fire on the officers.

The indictment states that an Alvarado officer was hit in the neck during the shooting and was seriously wounded, although he managed to repel part of the attack. The assailants fled when the lead shooter's weapon jammed.

First case of terrorist charges against those linked to Antifa.

The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, confirmed that this investigation marks a precedent in the federal offensive against political violence in the United States.

"For the first time ever, the FBI has arrested anarchist violent extremists and charged these Antifa-aligned individuals with material support to terrorism," Patel said in an official statement. "This was a planned and coordinated terrorist attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where armed extremists tried to murder U.S. officers on July 4th."

Patel further noted that the Bureau is acting under new guidelines issued by the Trump Administration and advanced that more than 20 arrests linked to this network have already been made.