Conspiracy Trial For Spokane Anti-ICE Protesters Begins

President Donald Trump touted himself as the “free speech president” on the campaign trail, but it’s become abundantly clear that the Trump administration’s definition of free speech applies only to those who agree with them. The Trump administration’s attacks on the First Amendment have now reached the courtroom, where three people have been indicted on conspiracy charges related to an anti-ICE protest in Spokane, Washington, last year.

The New York Times reports that the trial of Bajun Mavalwalla II, Justice Forral, and Jac Archer begins on Monday. While six other people who faced indictment on similar charges pleaded guilty to lesser charges, the three men refused to do so, believing their First Amendment rights were being violated. The case is being tried in a county that went for Trump in the 2024 election and is historically more conservative than the rest of the state. 

From The New York Times:

The demonstrators tried to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from transporting two Venezuelan immigrants — who were in the country legally at the time but had outstanding immigration-related warrants — to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash.

Protesters linked arms and created makeshift barriers to block driveways and entrances to the federal building. Prosecutors said a van meant to transport the immigrants had its windows spray-painted over and its tires deflated. Local police responded with smoke grenades and pepper balls, arresting more than 30 people, most on misdemeanor charges typically associated with protests, including trespassing and failure to disperse.

The Spokane protest coincided with a wave of protests responding to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and a memo from the Department of Justice ordering U.S. attorneys to prioritize immigration protest cases.

The trial will have significant consequences regardless of the jury’s ruling. Should the three men be found guilty, it will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on civil disobedience. It will give the Trump administration the pretense to file conspiracy charges against any anti-ICE protester, even if the protest is peaceful. Should they be convicted, each man faces six years in prison. 

“Usually if a protest gets out of hand and people are hurt or property is hurt, you see charges based on that,” Mary Fan, a former federal prosecutor, told the Times. “They’re not going after people based on specific harm done. They’re stretching conspiracy charges to target protesters and people who organize protests.” 

Fan added that the case holds significance because prosecutors are “going after people who rally others to protest under the banner of conspiracy.” That, she said, “is remarkable in a nation that values the First Amendment and where the law recognizes concerns about chilling political speech.”

Richard Barker, former acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, asked prosecutors to determine whether the Spokane protesters could be charged with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers. Instead of pursuing charges, though, Barker wound up resigning.

“We’re used to seeing people arrested because they refused to leave an area or they are engaging in civil disobedience,” Barker told The Times. “But when have we used the federal government to police that? That to me is a distinction with a difference.” 

This is not the first time the Trump administration has weaponized the courts to punish dissent. Last year, New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver (D) was arrested and indicted for “assaulting an ICE agent” when in reality she simply brushed past the agent while trying to protect Newark Mayor Ras Baraka from being arrested. 

So, according to the Trump administration, rioting at the Capitol and threatening to hang the former vice president is totally fine, but making heavily armed ICE agents uncomfortable is where they draw the line. Free speech president, my ass.

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