The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested four abortion abolitionists on criminal trespass charges Aug. 15 after an officer warned the demonstrators to comply with the Alamo’s rules or leave.
The demonstrators, associated with Abolitionists Rising, said they were advocating for an end to abortion and preaching Christianity at the state-owned San Antonio landmark.
Video posted by Nathan Irving shows a DPS officer giving the group five minutes to comply with the site’s rules. Irving identified himself as a Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient.
“You got five minutes to comply with the rules,” the officer said. “Choose not to, you will be asked to leave. If you don’t leave, you will be arrested.”
The Dallas Express reviewed a clip showing the warning. Images from the demonstration show the group displaying several large signs, some containing graphic anti-abortion imagery. CJ Grisham, an attorney representing all four people arrested, said the demonstrators held and controlled every sign by hand and that the signs would fall if released.
The available footage does not show what preceded the warning or establish which rule officers believed the demonstrators had violated or whether the group was outside the designated zone.
Irving said officers threatened him with arrest for criminal trespass but ultimately did not take him into custody.
“Marine Corps and Purple Heart veteran threatened with arrest for ‘criminal trespass’ on public property,” Irving wrote on Facebook. “I ended up not getting arrested, but four others did. Pray for them.”
Irving later told The Dallas Express that the group believed it was exercising constitutionally protected rights.
“Our desire is to see the end of legal abortion in Texas,” Irving said. “We were simply trying to exercise our 1st Amendment rights, when some of us were placed under arrest and many others were threatened with arrest.”
Booking information reviewed by The Dallas Express shows Bexar County booked J.R. Miller on a criminal trespass charge Aug. 15. A second listing shows Bexar County booked T.R. Raymond Jr. on the same charge. The San Antonio Express-News identified the men as Jacob Ross Miller and Theodore Rene Raymond Jr. and reported that both left custody on bond Aug. 16.
DPS later identified Michelle Martens and Tristan Diller as the other two people arrested, News 4 San Antonio reported. DPS said officers issued multiple warnings before the arrests. Grisham represents all four, who face Class B misdemeanor criminal trespass charges, according to the outlet. The charges are allegations, not convictions.
Alamo limits demonstrations to designated zone
The Alamo says it “recognizes and respects the First Amendment rights of individuals and groups to express their views.” Its current rules direct public-policy advocacy and political activity to a designated free-speech zone on the southern portion of Plaza de Valero, near H&M and Rivercenter Mall, while classifying the remainder of the complex as a “nonpublic forum.”
The Alamo marks the zone with a large star bearing a Benjamin Franklin quotation about freedom of speech. It does not require a permit, although it requests advance notice to help coordinate use of the space. The rules prohibit audio amplification, blocked pedestrian pathways, commercial solicitation or distribution of literature, and physical structures, such as tables, tents or “signs affixed to the ground.”
The State of Texas owns the Alamo, and Alamo Trust Inc. operates it. The site says the restrictions preserve a safe, orderly and reverent environment while protecting historic structures.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Alamo Trust said during demonstrations in June 2025 that it recognized and respected peaceful expression while temporarily closing the plaza over safety concerns.
Court has not resolved Alamo Plaza’s forum status
In a 2025 ruling, a federal judge considering a different First Amendment challenge involving a San Antonio street performer declined to decide whether Alamo Plaza qualifies as a “quintessential public forum.” The ruling did not evaluate the Alamo’s current free speech policy.
The judge also noted that, even in a traditional public forum, officials may enforce content-neutral restrictions on the time, place and manner of expression if they narrowly tailor the rules to serve a significant government interest and leave open ample alternative channels.
A 2018 planning document placed the heading “Gathering and Public Expression” over a depiction of Plaza de Valero adding 3.6 acres and called for “generous areas for gathering and public expression.” The Alamo’s current policy does not state the dimensions of its designated zone.
Demonstrators challenge current restrictions
Grisham described Alamo Plaza as “a traditional public forum” and said his clients went there “to share a message about the horrors of abortion” but encountered what he called “an incompetent and oppressive police force looking for any reason to arrest them.”
“They invented the criminal trespass charges as cover,” Grisham told The Dallas Express.
Grisham argued that the Alamo’s rules violate the First Amendment and Article I, Sections 8 and 27, of the Texas Constitution and said officers chose to make the arrests despite hearing that objection.
“These charges will either be dismissed or acquitted at trial,” Grisham said.
Bryan Conwell of Equal Protection Minnesota argued that the First Amendment exists precisely to protect advocacy for unborn children and Christian preaching.
“What greater purpose does the right of a free people to speak freely serve, than to demand equal protection and equal justice under the law for the defenseless, and to become a voice for the voiceless?” Conwell told The Dallas Express.
“If a free people cannot stand in the public square to defend those who cannot defend themselves, and cannot proclaim to the world the words that bring life—the gospel of Jesus Christ—then we are no free people at all,” he added.
The Dallas Express contacted DPS and the Alamo about the arrests, criminal trespass enforcement and the current free speech policy but has not received a direct response from either.
Update: This article has been updated to correct the description of the demonstrators’ signs, include attorney CJ Grisham’s response and identify all four people arrested.
