Eight activists have been convicted on charges of providing material support to terrorists for wearing all black to a protest outside an ICE facility in Prairieland, Texas. Now, with a June 23 sentencing hearing fast approaching, these activists are facing decades in prison. It’s the government’s first successful prosecution under Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, and the Justice Department insists there will be more. These convictions are likely to be challenged on appeal, and The Intercept is using open records laws to uncover any new evidence that might undermine the prosecution's case. But local authorities are dragging their feet in responding to our request, and our legal team is taking action to compel local officials to hand over the documents we’re entitled to see. This could be a costly legal fight, and we’ll need your help to ensure that we have the resources to see it through. If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: During the trial of the Prairieland anti-ICE protesters, the government pointed to the demonstrators’ so-called “black bloc” clothing and their use of the messaging app Signal as indicators of antifa terrorism. However, despite the extraordinary weakness of the prosecution’s case, seven of these protesters may get up to 60 years in prison, and another faces an even longer maximum sentence. Our legal team is demanding that local authorities comply with our open records request in a timely fashion — and while we can’t know what these documents contain until we see them, the defense team has a limited amount of time to pursue appeals. If these documents contain anything that may cast even a sliver of doubt on the government’s case, then every delay is potentially significant. There’s no bigger reporting priority for The Intercept right now than exposing the Trump administration’s assault on free speech, and as a nonprofit news outlet, we count on your donations to help power everything we do. That’s why this midyear fundraising drive is so important. Please stand with The Intercept and make a donation today. 
Thank you,
The Intercept team
The Intercept is a recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The Intercept’s mailing address is: The Intercept is an award-winning nonprofit news organization dedicated to holding the powerful accountable through fearless, adversarial journalism. Our in-depth investigations and unflinching analysis focus on surveillance, war, corruption, the environment, technology, criminal justice, the media and more. Email is an important way for us to communicate with The Intercept’s readers, but if you’d like to stop hearing from us, click here to unsubscribe from all communications. Protecting freedom of the press has never been more important. Contribute now to support our independent journalism. |
