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.

  • HasturInYellow@lemmy.world
    321·
    6 days ago

    Every time I think about the history of federal involvement in left wing organizing vs right wing organizing in this country, my blood pressure rises about 20%.

    I mean, fuck. We inspired and then “rehabilitated” the Nazis. We took a shitton of higher ups and just pardoned them and gave them jobs in gov. Shockingly, the gov has been rather opposed to left wing ideas since.