A Dallas ISD teacher charged in connection with a July 4 protest over mass deportations that ended in gunfire outside an ICE detention center in Johnson County says he had no involvement in the violence.
Authorities say the protest, organized by the Socialist Rifle Association, turned violent when someone ambushed police officers responding to the scene. One officer was shot and wounded. Since then, at least 17 people have been arrested, including Dario Sanchez, who says he had nothing to do with the violence.
“I haven’t committed any crime,” Sanchez told CBS News Texas in an exclusive interview. “I had no idea that anything violent happened. My politics is not about violence or anything like that.”
Arrest followed raid in Irving
Sanchez, 32, was arrested at his home in Irving on July 15. He described a chaotic scene when tactical officers broke down his door using an armored vehicle and flash bangs.
“I jumped out of bed and started getting dressed,” he recalled. “Both me and my girlfriend were handcuffed.”
Sanchez is now free on a $150,000 bond. He’s one of seven people charged as accessories after the fact. Prosecutors allege he tampered with evidence by removing a fellow SRA member from encrypted messaging platforms like Signal and Discord during the investigation.
Group chat moderation cited in case
“I removed them from an official SRA Discord group because we’re very clear on our stance on violent activity,” Sanchez said. “Me taking people out of these groups does not remove anything they have said or done in them.”
The July 4 protest was organized to oppose mass deportations. According to arrest reports, some demonstrators were armed with AR-15-style rifles and discharged fireworks toward the facility. Two vehicles and a guard shack were vandalized. When Alvarado police arrived, one officer was struck twice by .556 rounds fired from at least two suspects.
Authorities seized rifles and bulletproof vests from vehicles at the scene. Sanchez, however, was not present during the incident and says he had no prior knowledge of any planned violence.
Attorney calls charges political
His attorney, Frank Sellers, believes the charges are politically motivated.
“They have cast too far wide a net and dragged people in who are completely innocent like Dario,” Sellers said. “They just want to put them on the conveyor belt like every case they have out there.”
The SRA DFW Support Committee released a statement saying the case has been “rife with inconsistencies, unbelievable accusations and violence against the defendants and their loved ones.”
Group says it promotes safety
Sanchez says the SRA, which has around 200 members in North Texas, is a gun rights group for people whose politics don’t align with the National Rifle Association.
“I know for a fact some people there could not and would not have been involved in any kind of terrorist activity,” Sanchez said. “They have families that they care about deeply. It just hurts a lot to see them separated from the people they love all for something that they had no part in.”
The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. If convicted, Sanchez faces between five and 99 years in prison.