Bajun Mavalwalla II, a former Army sergeant who survived a roadside bomb blast on a special operations mission in Afghanistan, was charged in July with conspiracy to impede or injure officers after joining a demonstration against federal ICE in Spokane. Legal experts view the case as an escalation of attacks on First Amendment rights. Afghanistan war veterans describe the charges as unjust and note his prior top-secret clearance and combat service. The June 11 protest was confrontational, but Mavalwalla was not arrested at the scene. The FBI executed a warrant at his home on July 15 as he prepared to move into a house bought with VA-backed assistance.
Bajun Mavalwalla II a former army sergeant who survived a roadside bomb blast on a special operations mission in Afghanistan was charged in July with conspiracy to impede or injure officers after joining a demonstration against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Spokane, Washington.
The 35-year-old, who used his GI Bill to earn a degree in sustainable communities from Sonoma State University, was set to move into a 3,000-sq-ft house that day, which he had bought with his girlfriend, a nurse and fellow Afghanistan war veteran, with the help of a loan backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mavalwalla's father, a retired US army intelligence officer with three bronze stars earned during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, brought his truck for the occasion.
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