Five admitted members of a Texas antifa cell pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges this week in what is the first-known case in U.S. history of antifa militants admitting in federal court to being part of an organized antifascist cell.
Their confessions signal broader implications for antifa’s forces, in particular, a pulling back of the curtains on the criminal organization by its own operatives.
Seth Sikes, Joy Abigail Gibson, Lynette Read Sharp, Nathan Baumann, and John Phillip Thomas all entered guilty pleas on Wednesday, admitting to aiding “acts of terrorism” and belonging to the antifa cell that ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Alvarado, Texas.
Sikes, Gibson, Sharp, Baumann, and Thomas each admitted to one count of providing material support to terrorists for their roles in the coordinated July Fourth attack on the Prairieland detention center, which left a local police officer shot in the neck.
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The guilty pleas, as well as their accompanying admissions, mark a turning point in the national discourse over antifa’s existence. Extremism watchdogs envision that the case will help debunk the myth, propagated by the political Left, that antifa is simply an idea. Never before, in recent memory, have antifa members openly confessed in criminal court to their membership, let alone unmasked other associates.
Capital Research Center president Scott Walter said their confessions “should destroy the lie that antifa doesn’t exist as organized groups.”
“This is an unprecedented case,” Walter told the Washington Examiner. “They have gone on the record, saying, ‘Here’s how we operated. Here are the other people I was working with. Here’s the person I was helping to hide out.’”
As part of their plea agreements, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, as opposed to the decades they were facing previously, the defendants agreed to a set of stipulated facts of the case.
Throughout these statements, the defense divulged in great detail the antifa cell’s organizational structure, tactical strategies, and operational objectives.
According to a summary of events that Baumann agreed is true, they “adhered to an Antifa, revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology that is anti-law enforcement, anti-immigration enforcement, and calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.”
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“Antifa is a militant enterprise that advocates insurrection and violence to affect the policy and conduct of the U.S. government by intimidation and coercion,” Baumann’s stipulated facts said. “In line with his Antifa ideology, on or about July 3 and July 4, Baumann, along with others, participated in the planning of the ‘direct action’ against Prairieland set for the night of July 4.”
The others accepted similar stipulated facts.
Sikes acknowledged that antifa organizes in “cells or ‘affinity groups’ around their beliefs,” while Gibson detailed how they prepared for the surprise attack, including conducting reconnaissance and coordinating over an encrypted messaging application.
Sharp and Thomas both admitted to helping Benjamin Hanil Song, the cell’s suspected ringleader, evade law enforcement by providing temporary lodging and transportation. Song was a fugitive from justice, wanted by the FBI for over a week.
While the increased threat of federal imprisonment might serve as a deterrent to some antifa militants, the publicity surrounding these criminal proceedings could also embolden antifa’s followers.
“The bad actors love attention, and this is certainly attention for them,” Walter said.
Walter explained that their greater chance of getting caught may energize some self-avowed revolutionaries, such as antifa ideologues, who thrive off the thrill of danger.
“People who are this radical are typically not careful, rational calculators,” he added.
Nine other alleged members of the Texas antifa cell were indicted on federal charges ranging from rioting to attempted murder. There are 18 total suspects tied to the Alvarado shooting, with some facing state and federal charges. The five who pleaded guilty in their federal case are still awaiting state proceedings.
The slew of indictments followed President Donald Trump’s executive order designating antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.
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Walter hopes that the federal crackdown on antifa will inspire more state and local law enforcement agencies, not just the ones in Texas, to clamp down on political violence.
“The feds don’t have the capacity. They can’t police every big city in America,” said Walter. “They don’t remotely have the bandwidth to do that. They don’t have the boots on the ground that all those police forces do.”
, 2025-11-23 11:00:00, 
, Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Mia Cathell
