'A Test Case to See How Far They Can Go': Federal Indictment of Anti-ICE Protesters Raises Alarm

Free speech and veterans' rights advocates are among those this week condemning federal conspiracy charges against a former US service member who was among nine people indicted after attending a Washington state protest against President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant blitz.

On June 11, 35-year-old Spokane, Washington resident Bajun Mavalwalla—a former Army sergeant who according to The Guardian survived a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan—heeded a Facebook call to action from former City Council President Ben Stuckart to intervene after a pair of legal asylum-seekers were apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operatives at the local Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office.

Mavalwalla, Stuckart, and others allegedly blocked a bus being used by ICE to transport the two asylum-seekers and deflated its tires. Several people were arrested; Mavalwalla was not among them.

According to The Spokane Spokesman-Review, Mavalwalla was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents a month later as he and his girlfriend were moving out of their shared home.

"This is not how I planned to spend my moving day," Mavalwalla says in a video of the arrest recorded by his father, Bajun Mavalwalla Sr. "I'm a military veteran. I'm an American citizen."

Mavalwalla Sr.—who is also an Army vet who was deployed to Afghanistan at the same time as his son—told the Spokesman-Review: "I demanded a warrant, they refused and wouldn't show it until everyone left the home. My son was protesting on June 11, they said he assaulted officers."

"My son worked in cybersecurity and was deployed to Afghanistan," Mavalwalla Sr. added. "He has no problems with the law."

On July 15, federal prosecutors charged Mavalwalla, Stuckart, and seven other protesters with conspiracy to impede or injure law enforcement. If convicted, they could face up to six years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and three years' supervised release. Mavalwalla pleaded not guilty.

Following the protesters' arrest, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, a Democrat, said: "This politically motivated action is a perversion of our justice system. The Trump administration's weaponization of ICE and the [Department of Justice] is trampling on the US Constitution and creating widespread fear across our community."

Some observers noted that the case prosecutor, acting US Attorney Pete Serrano is a Trump nominee with no prosecutorial experience who called the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrectionists "political prisoners." Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who vows to block Serrano's US attorney appointment, has slammed his "extreme right-wing views" and argues that he is unfit for office.

As news of Mavalwalla's arrest subsequently spread, so did outrage and alarm.

"Here's a guy who held a top secret clearance and was privy to some of the most sensitive information we have, who served in a combat zone," retired Army Col. Kenneth Koop, an Afghan War veteran, told The Guardian Tuesday. "To see him treated like this really sticks in my craw."

Luis Miranda, DHS' chief spokesperson during the Biden administration, said of Mavawalla and the Trump administration, "He's a test case to see how far they can go."

Shawn VanDiver—an Afghan War veteran who founded and leads #AfghanEvac, which helps relocate and resettle Afghans who aided the US invaders—wrote on the social media site X Tuesday that "the FBI didn't arrest Bajun Mavalwalla II at the protest. They waited. Then showed up at his home—on moving day."

"No violence. No property damage. Just a veteran using his voice. And they shackled him in front of his family," he said. "Let that sink in."

VanDiver noted that Mavalwalla "served honorably" and that he "stood up for Afghan allies."

"Now the government is trying to silence him and scare us," he added. "We're watching."

Mavalwalla Sr. told The Press Democrat in a July interview that his son's prosecution is an "unbelievable overreach."

"Sending out all those agents, under the pretext that my son is somehow a threat," he added. "The craziest thing is they’re charging him with conspiracy. He was at the protest, but he'd never met any of these other people. You want to know the first time he met Stuckart? It was in the jail cell."