Legal experts say the charges against Afghanistan war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II mark an escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on first amendment rights

The arrest of a US army veteran who protested against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has raised alarms among legal experts and fellow veterans familiar with his service in Afghanistan.

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.

Legal experts say the case marks an escalation in the administration’s attacks on first amendment rights. Afghanistan war veterans who know him say the case against Mavalwalla appears unjust.

  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
    7·
    6 days ago

    EVEN JUST A FEW HOURS SUCKS. I know from experience.

    Fuck the police. ACAB.

    The whole time I was just worried about if I was gonna be deported, then I remembered my mother is a citizen so I also have derivative citizenship. But still, it triggered me so much, I was constantly ruminating/thinking about the alternate timelines where I got deported. Still think about it from time to time, heck, with the current ICE nazification, it can still happen right now. Police sirens scared the shit out of me, I could be just chilling playing a horror game, and then the siren blares through the neighborhood and I my heartrate goes even above being faced with monsters in a game (because the monsters in real life (aka: cops) are much scarier), I essentially go into fight or flight mode.

    Like I had so many traumatic events throught my life, this unlawful arrest was the final nail in the coffin, I feel like I have permanent brian damage.

    Parents have betrayed me, my brother has betrayed me, my country of birth betrayed me, now I’m in a different country and still dealing with authoritarian bullshit, like these corrupt pigs. Never felt like I have a safe place anywhere in this world, this world is hostile.