Arrest of War Veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II Is an Attack on the Right to Dissent

Washington, D.C. – Human Rights First condemns the arrest of U.S. war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II and of this administration’s broader crackdown on Americans’ right to dissent. Mavalwalla II, a former army sergeant who served in the war in Afghanistan, was arrested following his peaceful protest of ICE raids in his community in Spokane, WA. 

“This administration has routinely attacked protestors exercising their right to peacefully demonstrate, in particular when those demonstrations have been in opposition to Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Mavalwalla II’s arrest is an attempt to undercut our constitutional right to free speech and is a dangerous step towards authoritarianism,” said Hanah Stiverson, Associate Director of Democracy Protection at Human Rights First. “What we’re seeing is an aggressive attempt to dismantle our fundamental civil and human rights by using Mavalwalla II as a test case for what they’d like to do on a mass scale. Everyone should be very concerned by this.”

Veterans groups across the country have been vocally decrying this administration’s mass detention and deportation efforts and the harm they are causing to communities. Veterans themselves have been detained and deported under this administration, in a betrayal of the sacrifices they made. 

Director of Veterans for American Ideals, Gretchen Klingler, states, “America’s veterans served to protect the freedoms and rights we have long held dear as a nation. It is the right of all Americans to protest these efforts and to speak freely against any government policy. To see an administration criminalize constitutional rights and target a war veteran invoking those rights is particularly horrific, especially in light of the sacrifices service members make to uphold those rights.”

To speak with Stiverson or Klingler, please contact [email protected].