In a move that’s raising eyebrows among legal experts and fellow veterans, an Army vet who protested an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration has been arrested by the FBI. Bajun Mavalwalla II, a former army sergeant and Afghanistan war veteran, was charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” after taking part in a protest in Spokane, Washington.
This whole situation just seems bizarre, especially considering Mavalwalla’s background and the fact that this was merely a protest. What makes this even more unbelievable is who Mavalwalla is. This isn’t just some random protester whose First Amendment rights were likely violated; this is a hero.
According to the Guardian, Kenneth Koop, a retired colonel who trained the Afghan military and police during Mavalwalla’s deployment, said, “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. To see him treated like this really sticks in my craw.” Trump praises those who fought against democracy during the January 6 insurrection, but not those who almost died for our freedom.
FBI has a combat veteran arrested for protesting
The protest Mavalwalla attended on June 11 was definitely confrontational; a government van’s windshield was smashed and tires were slashed, but Mavalwalla wasn’t even among the two dozen people arrested at the scene. This means he likely didn’t participate in that action, and may be seen as chargeable just due to association or just for protesting to begin with.
The FBI showed up at his door over a month later when he was in the middle of moving into a new house he had bought with his girlfriend. His girlfriend is also an Afghanistan war veteran, and the couple bought the home with the help of a VA-backed loan. As agents searched his pockets and forced him into a black pickup truck, Mavalwalla said, “This is not how I planned to spend my moving day. I’m a military veteran. I’m an American citizen.”
What’s even more wild is the charge itself. Mavalwalla wasn’t charged with assault or obstruction, which are typical for protest arrests. Instead, he was hit with a “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” charge. This is a crime of intent, meaning prosecutors only have to prove that the defendants agreed to act in concert to impede or injure an officer.
As Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor, puts it, this is a “vast net which you can use to catch a bunch of people.” The indictment claims Mavalwalla and his co-defendants “physically blocked the drive-way of the federal facility and/or physically pushed against officers despite orders to disperse and efforts to remove them from the property.”
Mavalwalla, who has no criminal record, pleaded not guilty. The whole thing just feels like a test case. As former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Luis Miranda said, “He’s a test case to see how far they can go.” This kind of selective prosecution is what legal experts say will lead to a “chilling effect on free speech under the first amendment.”
Mavalwalla’s father, a retired US Army intelligence officer with three Bronze Stars, believes his son was racially profiled, saying federal authorities fixated on the demonstrator “with a funny name.” He worries that the United States is being “taken over by fascists.” The promise of America that brought his own father to the country generations ago is what he hopes will endure, but this case makes you wonder.
