Trump Administration Closes in on Free Speech with Conspiracy Charges Against Protester

Posted on September 6, 2025

According to a new article in The Guardian, a nonviolent anti-ICE demonstrator is facing federal conspiracy charges. The accused, Bajun Mavalwalla II, attended a social media-publicized meetup at a DHS facility in Spokane, WA to oppose ICE detentions, only to be arrested a month later for participation in a supposed conspiracy.

A DOJ press release enumerates a number of offenses allegedly committed by various individuals in conjunction with the meetup. Its characterization of Mavalwalla’s role essentially amounts to blocking a DHS facility driveway that ICE agents sought to access—civil disobedience in its classic form.

Interestingly, though, he is not being charged with obstruction of justice or failure to obey a lawful order to disperse, but “conspiracy”.As legal experts cited in the reporting point out, it is not clear merely from the inciting social media post that the action was premeditated and coordinated, as would need to be proven to a jury to secure a conspiracy conviction. Rather, it would seem to be more akin to crowdsourcing: simply putting out the call to rally at a designated place and time, and carrying out actions ad hoc with the support of whoever shows up.

First Amendment legal scholars have zeroed in on Mavalwalla’s prosecution as a critical test case. In their estimation, it could be wielded by Trump’s DOJ as a means of inching closer to de facto prosecuting First Amendment speech, by casting protesters as conspirators. An erosion here would open the door to a crackdown akin to COINTELPRO in the activism-rich 1970s.

You can read the full report from The Guardian here.