ACTION ALERT: The Prairieland Trial
Was a Mess. We’re Getting to the Truth
The Intercept
(August 18, 2026) — Two Republican-appointed judges in Texas just sentenced a group of anti-ICE activists to a combined 560+ years in prison following a protest last July outside ICE’s Prairieland Detention Center.
Several Prairieland defendants are appealing their convictions, and The Intercept’s investigation has already exposed gaping holes in the government’s case.
However, local authorities are still refusing to release records that could contain key evidence that the jury in the first trial never saw.
So The Intercept’s legal team continues to use state open records laws to force local authorities to turn over everything they have. But this fight has already cost us thousands in legal fees, and The Intercept just saw one of our weakest fundraising months of the year.
The Intercept has spent months trying to get local authorities to hand over public records of police department communications regarding the events that took place outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility on July 4, 2025.
But the city of Alvarado has responded with utter contempt for public records compliance, designing a tortuous path making it all but impossible to receive the records in question.
Our request was simple, but the response has been labyrinthine. The only possible conclusion is that they’re intentionally working to deny the public information about the case.
Enough is enough. We refuse to back down until the government reveals every record we’re entitled to see.
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.
