Trump's Trials - Judge declares mistrial in Texas ICE detention facility shooting case

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

A U.S. federal judge in Fort Worth declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case against nine people connected to a shooting outside an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, last year. Toluwani Osibamowo reports. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detrow, and this is Trump's terms from NPR. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's coverage of the Trump administration with a focus on actions and policies that take the presidency into uncharted territory. Here's the latest from NPR. From NPR News, I'm Michelle Martin in New York City. A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday in the case against nine people accused of being connected to a shooting outside an ICE detention center. Judge Mark Pittman abruptly stopped jury selection after he noticed a defense attorney wearing a shirt he called politically charged.

KERA's Toluani Osi Bamawa was inside the courtroom. Defendants say they believed they were going to a noise demonstration to support people in ice custody inside the Prairie Land Detention Center. Around 1030 at night, shots were fired, one local police officer was injured and several people were arrested. Tuesday's proceedings at the federal courthouse in Fort Worth started off routine. Then it was defense attorney Mark Clayton's turn to question jurors. After about 20 minutes, the judge asked the prospective jurors to leave, and that's when he noticed Clayton's shirt. It was a black and white t-shirt depicting historical American civil rights figures, and

Clayton referenced the constitutional right to protest. Judge Pittman accused Clayton of attempting to influence the jury pool. He ruled it a mistrial. But Amber Lowry, whose sister is one of the people on trial, says the mistrial was frustrating to see. The prosecution and all of the attorneys asked, please no, we don't need a mistrial. There's been no harm done. We didn't even notice that she was wearing whatever shirt she was wearing. The Justice Department had accused the nine defendants of being part of a, quote, North Texas Antifa cell. President Trump declared Antifa a domestic terrorist threat last year, but the Antifa or anti-fascist ideology is a decentralized movement, not a specific organization. Here's George Lobb, an attorney defending one of the accused against her state. charges. Antifa, where are you? It's a buzzword used to label people to justify political persecution

and violation of the First Amendment. Still, criminal justice experts say the case could be the blueprint for how the Trump administration prosecutes alleged left-wing movements. Meanwhile, the mistrial doesn't mean the case is over. A new trial is expected to start next week with a new pool of jurors. For NPR news, I'm Toluani, Osi Bamawa in Fort Worth. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org.

I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR. Thank you.