1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Dear Members of Congress, On June 23, 2026, fifteen people were sentenced to a combined 556 years in federal prison in connection with a July 4, 2025 protest outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. We are not writing to minimize what happened that night. A police officer was shot and wounded, and the person who fired the weapon received 100 years — the maximum sentence. We do not contest that serious violence demands serious consequences. We are writing about everyone else. Daniel Sanchez-Estrada received 30 years in federal prison. Prosecutors acknowledged he was not present at the protest. Others received 50 years for “material support for terrorism” — a charge legal experts note was not tied to any specific violent act, but to alleged association with a loosely organized movement the Trump administration designated a terrorist organization under NSPM-7 in September 2025. For context: 30 to 70 year sentences are typically reserved for murder, attempted murder of law enforcement, and child sex trafficking. These sentences were imposed on young people, some of whom were not present when violence occurred, under a brand new executive order specifically designed to criminalize left-wing political opposition. This is the first major prosecution under NSPM-7 — the same memorandum that identifies “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Americanism,” and views on “migration and gender” as markers of potential domestic terrorism. The Prairieland sentences are not an endpoint. They are a precedent. When sentences bear no proportional relationship to individual conduct, when political designation substitutes for evidence of violence, and when the first test case of a sweeping executive order results in 556 combined years in prison — Congress must ask hard questions. We demand oversight hearings into the Prairieland prosecutions, a review of NSPM-7’s application in federal cases, and a public accounting of how material support charges were applied to defendants with no direct role in the shooting. Justice requires proportionality. These sentences have none. Respectfully,