Prosecuting "Antifa": The Prairieland Case and Its Implications for Organizers

In this episode, Koki sits down with PRA Principal research advisor, Steven Gardner, to discuss the recent March 2026 verdicts in the Prairieland case from North Texas when 9 protestors were found guilty of a variety of charges ranging from providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, to concealing a document or record and discharging a firearm. The charges stem from an investigation following a noise demonstration and confrontation with local law enforcement outside a North Texas ICE detention center on July 4, 2025. In court, the case hinged on accusations that these defendants belonged to an Antifa cell and thus engaged in domestic terrorism, premised on the 2025 Executive Order “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorism Organization.”Steven and Koki discuss the details of the case and trial, other instances of legal persecution of anti-ICE protestors, what these cases tell us about the Trump administration’s authoritarian project and implications for ongoing resistance organizing with concrete advice from Steven on how to mitigate risk without demobilizing.Steven Gardiner is the Principal Research Advisor and former Research Director at Political Research Associates. He has been researching and writing in opposition to the politics of bigotry, violence, and authoritarianism since the early 1990s. In 2004, Gardiner received a PhD in cultural anthropology from Cornell University. Since earning his doctorate, he has taught more than 20 different courses at eight universities in the United States, Pakistan, and the UAE. Episode ResourcesPodcast Episode: “Prairieland and Antifa Terrorism”, It Could Happen Here, March 23, 2026Ava Thompson, “Timeline: What we know about events surrounding the Prairieland ICE detention center shooting trial”, KERA News, February 24, 2026.Steven Monacelli, “How the Prairieland ‘Antifa’ Verdict Threatens the Anti-Trump Resistance,” Texas Observer, March 19, 2026.PRA Podcast, “All Eyes on Minneapolis: Lessons on Resisting Authoritarianism,” Inform Your Resistance, February 3, 2026.Shane Burley, “The Great 2020 Antifa Scare,” Political Research Associates, July 13, 2021.