"Due to unchecked state repression, people present at the noise demonstration are now facing decades of prison time and years of pre-trial detention, regardless of their actions or knowledge. For weeks, local and federal agents have terrorized friends and family members of those arrested at the rally, serving no-knock warrants and conducting widespread surveillance. Multiple people arrested were not even at the demonstration on July 4th. Most defendants remain detained without formal charges, without legal representation, and in limbo between state and federal jurisdiction. Finding attorneys has been extremely difficult given the incredibly repressive behavior of the government.
We are witnessing state repression in real time. It is clear that police and prosecutors hope that the deplorable conditions of imprisonment will break the defendants and compel cooperation under duress. State and federal agents are wielding their power to silence people who dissent, to terrify and deter the public from exercising their rights to protest, and to make an example of the Prairieland Defendants in order to quash anti-ICE speech. The government seems determined to criminalize everyone even remotely related to the July 4th rally, regardless of their level of involvement. The flurry of arrests and severe charges are meant to suppress political organizing and free speech."
