Trial of 3 Spokane protesters begins Monday

The federal trial of three people who protested at the Spokane ICE facility last July opens next Monday. A lot is at stake.

Protesters Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II are being charged with felony conspiracy to use force, intimidation, or threats to prevent federal agents from doing their jobs. The three protesters could face up to six years in prison and steep fines if convicted. It's a major test case of the Trump administration's campaign to criminalize dissent and neutralize our first amendment rights to protest.

The case is moving forward despite the fact that the previous US attorney for eastern Washington, Richard Barker, resigned in protest two days before nine protesters were indicted. Six defendants have plead guilty on lesser charges.

Barker, who had worked for the US attorneys office in Spokane for 11 years, told PBS: "I didn't feel in this case that a conspiracy charge that would carry a six-year term of incarceration was true to who I was or who I wanted to be as a federal prosecutor."

The bar for conviction in conspiracy charges is generally very high. But the prospect of multi-year prison sentences is designed by the feds to send a message to future protesters: you should be afraid to express your first amendment rights.

According to reporting by RANGE Media, things began on June 11, 2025, when Spokane city council president Ben Stuckart posted a call to action on Facebook, alerting the activist community that two Venezuelan men (one of whom Stuckart is the legal guardian of) who were in the US legally were being detained by ICE and being taken to the facility and eventually Tacoma.

An impromptu, noisy protest broke out and some of the protesters blocked vehicles, slashed tires, and made a ruckus.

A federal court ruled in January that one of the Venezuelan men ICE had captured had been detained illegally.

Thirty-one protesters were eventually charged, mostly with failing to disperse. But the felony charges were an escalation, and one that US attorney Barker disagreed with. According to an article in the Spokesman-Review, Barker posted on his LinkedIn page after he resigned that he was thankful he “never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in.”

Six of the defendants took plea deals, including Stuckart, and none of them received jail time for their sentences.

All of the three going to trial on Monday are people of color. Jac Archer is a longtime leader in Spokane's activist community and director of Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR). Justice Forral is a dedicated activist who serves as Spokane's human right commissioner and also once worked for SCAR. They've been extremely active in police accountability and queer rights activism. Bajun Mavalwalla II is an Army reserve veteran and construction worker who founded a nonprofit that helped Afghan refugees escape their country.

The trial is a pivotal moment in the Trump regime's attempt to criminalize protest and impose steep prison time for acts of civil disobedience. US attorney general Todd Blanche has taken a keen interest in the case and put his name on several filing documents. The prosecution is led by Pete Serrano, a MAGA republican who lost to Nick Brown in the race for Washington attorney general. Serrano has never been confirmed by the Senate and was actively opposed by Sen. Patty Murray.

If this sort of political show trial and weaponization of the DOJ continues, Oregon and Washington need to protect our civil rights and take steps toward independence.

RANGE Media, an independent news outlet in Spokane, is doing fantastic, detailed coverage of the trial. You can support their work by signing up for a paid subscription.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend. --Andy