Army Veteran & Son of Longtime Intelligence Officer Charged in ICE Protest as Concerns Rise Over Domestic Military Use
WASHINGTON D.C. – Baji Mavalwalla, a U.S. army veteran, has been charged with conspiracy following a protest against Immigration adn Customs Enforcement (ICE), raising alarms about the potential for domestic deployment of military tactics and the erosion of First Amendment rights. His father, Bajun Ray Mavalwalla, a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer with a 30-year military career, expressed deep concern over the case and the broader implications for civil liberties.
The Mavalwalla family has a long history of military service.Bajun Ray Mavalwalla and his first wife both joined the Army in 1987, specializing in electronic warfare and intelligence, both becoming proficient in Russian.He later served as a National Guard recruiter for seven years before continuing his career as an officer. The family lived on the Presidio in San Francisco, a historic military installation.
Following in his parents’ footsteps, Baji Mavalwalla joined the National Guard at 17, learning Japanese at the Defense language Institute.He received intelligence training and spent nearly two years at U.S. Cyber Command with a top-secret security clearance before volunteering for deployment to Afghanistan at age 23, where he led a team in combat in Kandahar.
The recent charges against Baji Mavalwalla stem from his participation in an ICE protest. His father, speaking on Democracy Now!, voiced fears about the increasing use of military force on domestic issues, citing the Posse Comitatus Act and the Dick Act of 1903, which generally prohibit the use of the U.S.military for domestic law enforcement purposes.
“My immediate concern is as related to your earlier story…the abuse of the military on domestic issues is what I fear most, because that is, indeed, to quash our own freedoms and our First Amendment rights,” Bajun Ray Mavalwalla stated.
The case comes amid growing concerns about the Trump governance’s response to dissent and a perceived expansion of the boundaries of permissible domestic military involvement, as detailed in reporting by Aaron Glantz in The Guardian.
