Army veteran faces conspiracy charges after participating in anti-ICE protest

John Yang:

When a U.S. Army veteran was arrested on conspiracy charges for his role in an anti-ICE protest in Spokane, Washington, last summer, it was the first time an American had been charged with conspiracy in connection with the ongoing ICE protests.

Some legal experts saw it as an escalation of the administration's efforts to suppress, even criminalize First Amendment rights.

Special correspondent Aaron Glantz has the story, which was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

Aaron Glantz:

The sound of banging on Army veteran Bajun Mavalwalla's front door startled him awake at 6:00 a.m. the morning of July 15, 2025.

Bajun Mavalwalla, U.S. Army Veteran:

Something's not right. And I went and I looked out the upstairs window. The street is all closed off and there's a bunch of guys with rifles.

Aaron Glantz:

It was the FBI,and they had come to arrest him.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

My dad very, very quickly after that was like, Bajun, it's the FBI. They have got a warrant.

Aaron Glantz:

Bajun was arrested for conspiracy for his role in an anti-ICE protest more than a month earlier.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

I'm an Afghanistan veteran. I'm an American citizen.

Aaron Glantz:

Bajun kept his cool in handcuffs while the FBI searched his pockets.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla, Father of Bajun Mavalwalla: Have you been read your rights?

Aaron Glantz:

His father recorded this video.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

My son is steady as a rock, saying he's an Afghanistan veteran, that this is unjust.

Aaron Glantz:

If convicted, Bajun would face up to six years in prison.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

I don't think that you really realize how far away we have come from democracy until you open the door and see federal agents to arrest your son for a nonviolent protest.

Aaron Glantz:

Bajun comes from a military family. His parents both served in the army. His father, Bajun Ray Mavalwalla, a retired intelligence officer, earned three Bronze Stars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He and Bajun served in Afghanistan at the same time.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

I think that might be my favorite photograph in the entire world.

Aaron Glantz:

The younger Mavalwalla provided signals intelligence in Kandahar province, one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. His unit suffered casualties, including one time a fellow soldier stepped on an IED.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

There was three amputations, three traumatic brain injuries. I was maybe 10, 15 yards back.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

My son's incredibly brave. He believes that you should do the things you're supposed to do.

Aaron Glantz:

After coming home from the war, Bajun moved to the Pacific Northwest. He felt he'd done his duty. Like many veterans, he said he wanted to find some peace.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

I bought the land and it's beautiful. There's tons of trees. Like, I have seen wolves on it. There's been moose. There's been bears. Like, it's quiet.

Aaron Glantz:

But, a few years later in 2021, when Kabul fell to the Taliban, Bajun felt compelled to serve again, this time out of uniform, volunteering to help dozens of America's Afghan allies come to the United States.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

Every single person here, except for the people who are indigenous to the Americas, is an immigrant or comes from immigrants. It's absolutely ludicrous to think that we can get away with not bringing people in, especially people who we told, hey, if you help us, we will help you.

Aaron Glantz:

Five weeks before his arrest, Bajun saw a Facebook post from the former president of the Spokane City Council. Two men with pending asylum applications had been detained at a routine ICE check-in and were going to be transported for deportation.

"I am going to sit in front of the bus," he wrote. "Feel free to join me."

Bajun Mavalwalla:

Happened to be scrolling through and saw it pop up and I was like, huh, well, I have time. I will swing by and see what's going on.

I'm pretty upset about how this country is treating immigrants. The people they rolled up were legal asylum seekers. They have been doing everything right. There was no reason for them to be detained.

Aaron Glantz:

The protest was, for the most part, peaceful. But, at times, it turned contentious. Bajun can be seen in this video briefly tangling with masked federal agents. One ICE agent pushes Bajun in the back, knocking Bajun into another, who grabs him. Bajun and the agents shove each other and then disengage.

Then demonstrators back up and link arms to try to block the gate to stop ICE from taking the asylum seekers away. Dozens of people were arrested, but Bajun wasn't among them.

Richard Barker, the acting U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington state, had monitored the protest from his office on the other side of the Spokane River.

Richard Barker, Former Acting U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Washington: I went to bed that evening feeling like this situation could have been a lot worse than how it ended up.

Aaron Glantz:

Barker had worked for the DOJ for 11 years and focused on prosecuting drug smugglers and murderers. But the day after the Spokane protest, the Justice Department sent him and the 92 other U.S. attorneys nationwide a memo that demanded they prioritize prosecutions of ICE protesters.

So Barker authorized an investigation. His staff started preparing a conspiracy indictment against Bajun Mavalwalla and eight others, something Barker knew he couldn't support.

Richard Barker:

Nobody was really hurt. None of the protesters were hurt. Fortunately, none of the law enforcement officers were hurt either.

Aaron Glantz:

He was aware that other U.S. attorneys had been ousted for refusing to comply with Trump Justice Department orders. And he worried about his ability to act ethically if he stayed on the job. So he resigned.

Richard Barker:

I didn't feel in this case that a conspiracy charge that would carry a six-year term of incarceration was true to who I was or who I wanted to be as a federal prosecutor.

Aaron Glantz:

Two days after Barker quit, his successor signed the indictment, charging Bajun and the others with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, the first time conspiracy charges had been brought against ICE protesters.

In a statement to the "News Hour," the DOJ said it "respects the First Amendment and the right of Americans to peacefully protest, but will never tolerate the obstruction of lawful immigration operations or putting federal agents in harm's way."

Bajun Mavalwalla:

Should we go in?

Aaron Glantz:

The day he was arrested, Bajun was getting ready to move into a new house. He and his girlfriend, Kate, bought it with a VA mortgage.

Katelyn Gaston, U.S. Army Veteran:

This is the service uniform. I was in nine years.

Aaron Glantz:

Kate's also an Afghanistan war veteran. She deployed as a medic.

Katelyn Gaston:

We're not weak people. We are willing to fight for what is right, which is -- I mean, it's a First Amendment issue.

Aaron Glantz:

Bajun agrees and is standing his ground.

They say that you were part of a felony conspiracy to impede or assault a federal officer.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

Conspiracy requires people communicating and planning it out and saying, yes, we're going to do this and this is why we're going to do it and this is how we're going to do it. None of that happened, at least as far as -- not as far as I know. I wasn't part of any of it.

Aaron Glantz:

Since Bajun's arrest in July, the use of federal conspiracy charges has spread. Prosecutors have filed them against demonstrators in Chicago and also investigated Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for the same crime.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

What these people are doing to my son and that they're doing all across the country is unconscionable, and people need to know about it.

How you all doing today?

Aaron Glantz:

Inspired by Bajun's arrest and concerned about what he sees as the misuse of government authority, his father announced in January that he was running for Congress, challenging Spokane's Republican incumbent.

It was a day after federal agents fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, and he stopped by a demonstration in Spokane.

Bajun Ray Mavalwalla:

This is me and my son in Afghanistan. He was arrested by the FBI. It's unconscionable and it's un-American.

Aaron Glantz:

The shock of Renee Good's killing also inspired former acting U.S. attorney Richard Barker to speak out about what he sees as the government's hypocrisy. This is his first on-camera interview since resigning.

Richard Barker:

In the one instance, really, nobody was hurt and the protesters were charged. In another instance, somebody's life was taken, and DOJ wants to give that person immunity.

Bajun Mavalwalla:

These are things that are supposed to be fundamentally American. These are the things that, when I joined the military, I thought I was joining to protect. You have a right as an American to voice your opinion. You can't do it violently. You can't do it in a way that harms other people. But you have a right to stand up for what you believe in.

Oh, you got it.

Aaron Glantz:

Bajun's jury trial is scheduled for May 18.

For "PBS News Hour," I'm Aaron Glantz in Spokane, Washington.