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A 35-year-old former U.S. Army sergeant, Bajun “Baji” Mavalwalla II, faces up to six years in prison for protesting against ICE deportations in what legal experts are calling a test case for the Trump administration’s attempts to criminalize and punish dissent. Mavalwalla was arrested and charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” after he was identified in a video taken at the protest and shared on Instagram. Mavalwalla, who survived a roadside bomb blast while serving in Afghanistan, was also injured by a rubber bullet at the protest. “This whole event has been staged by the Trump administration,” says Mavalwalla’s father, Bajun Ray Mavalwalla, who witnessed and filmed his son’s arrest at their home in Spokane, Washington. “It’s unconscionable.” We speak to the elder Mavalwalla, also a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and as part of the National Guard, and to journalist Aaron Glantz, who has been reporting on this story for The Guardian.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

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We turn now to the story of a military veteran who joined an ICE protest and is now being charged with conspiracy to impede or injure officers. Legal experts have called the charges a test case for how far the Trump administration will go to punish dissent.

Bajun Mavalwalla, who goes by “Baji,” is a 35-year-old former Army sergeant who survived a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan. On June 11th, he saw a social media post by the former City Council president of Spokane calling to protest the detention of a legal asylum seeker. The post said, in part, quote, “Three weeks ago I became the legal guardian [to] a young man from Venezuela seeking asylum. He has turned in all paperwork and has a future court hearing. I went with him to ICE check in today. They detained him and are shipping him to Tacoma. … I am going to sit in front of the bus. Feel free to join me,” the City Council president wrote.

Baji was one of hundreds who responded. The protest became confrontational. More than two dozen people were arrested at the scene, but Baji wasn’t one of them. In a minute — a one-minute video posted on Instagram, the Army veteran is briefly visible,........

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