Spokane federal agents questioned about their role in the mass June protest

May 20-On the day of June 11, masked federal agents who worked in Spokane's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office hastily walked around a parking lot, tore a banner out of someone's hand and met a crowd at the lot's gate.

The agents, walking in a line behind one another, inserted themselves into the crowd. They began pushing people from the entrance, agitating people further. One agent said, "get out of the way" as he grabbed someone. The same agent grabbed another person by the neck and pulled them toward the ground. Some people fell. Others screamed and pushed back. At one point, one agent took out a Taser but never used it.

"Do you know how to de-escalate a situation?" asked federal defense attorney Andrea George to U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Jared Tomaso.

Tomaso has been trained on de-escalation, he said, but certain situations "warrant different options." Tomaso claimed there wasn't an opportunity for de-escalation when the agents walked into the crowd.

Tomaso was one of the agents in the scuffle outside the gate that day, and was called to the witness stand Wednesday in the federal trial of Bajun Mavalwalla II, Justice Forral and Jac Archer, three protesters accused of conspiring against ICE agents during a mass protest in June. The protest took shape after former City Council President Ben Stuckart posted a plea for people to come sit in front of a white transport van with him to prevent immigrants from being taken to a Tacoma detention center.

All three defendants were in the crowd outside the parking lot that day, according to video footage. The footage shows Archer talking with people, being pushed to the ground and sitting in front of the gate. Other video shows Forral yelling at agents from inside the crowd. Mavalwalla II is shown being pushed among the scuffle, holding a sign, yelling at agents and pulling his arm away from an officer who attempted to grab it from behind.

George and other attorneys showed this video repeatedly. She pushed Tomaso on de-escalation - how addressing people in a calm voice can "bring the temperature down" or reduce injury to both officers and protesters. No commands from the agents were heard in the video besides one telling people to move out of the way, George noted during questioning.

There wasn't a plan when agents got to the crowd, Tomaso said in court. Things were rapidly evolving and they felt like they needed to move people from the entrance. That's when George began to shift her questions.

"Just because you had an agreement to act the same, doesn't mean you had a plan, right?" George asked. Tomaso agreed.

George appeared to be hinting in the reverse at the defendants' charges - for the government to prove a conspiracy occurred, they must prove there was a plan or an agreement that took place to further an overt act.

The government focused on questions about how the agents felt threatened and asked them if they "would have pushed if protesters had complied." Many of them testified they felt unsafe walking outside to a large group of people sitting next to a bus or chanting expletives at them. For more than six hours, people inside the ICE facility were told to stay inside because agents believed they would risk safety taking them outside. There was one door that remained unblocked and avoided by protesters, a front door off Cataldo Avenue, video footage shows.

At the time, there were more than just two immigrants being detained, according to ICE officer Jason McIntosh. There were actually 12. McIntosh said on the stand he didn't know the status of the two immigrants whose detainment sparked the protest. Cesar Alexander Alvarez Perez, 21, and 28-year-old Joswar Slater Rodriguez Torres were both legal immigrants and asylum-seekers when they were detained that day. McIntosh didn't know their status when he detained them, he said, he was just following an order from his supervisor.

McIntosh was also in the scuffle outside the parking lot that day. He said people cussed at him and wished bad things upon his family. He said he didn't remember anyone pushing him to the point where he "felt he needed to protect himself."

Agents also said Mavalwalla II appeared to position himself in "an aggressive stance" or "preloading his elbow." Defense attorneys challenged the statement through video footage, which showed Mavalwalla II being pushed by the crowd and then pulled by the officer, who appears to grab his arm. Mavalwalla II then pulls it away quickly and turns his body away, moving his elbow downward as he gripped a sign in his hand. Mavalwalla II is not charged with assault on a federal officer in this case.

For the rest of the video footage, Mavalwalla II is standing on the outside of the gate in a stationary stance. His arms were locked with protesters and he was not moving or pushing.

Other witnesses were called, including ICE deportation officer Kevin Wilks, who testified that someone jumped in front of his car as he tried to leave, and a civilian employee who contracts with the federal government to assist asylum-seekers through the immigration system. She told the court that she sat in the ICE facility, 411 W. Cataldo Ave., waiting for officers to tell her it was "safe enough to leave" the building. Jason Burlingame, an ICE officer, testified about calling 911 to report the protesters blocking the government's transport van. The Spokane Police Department said it would assess the situation and call Burlingame back, he said. Spokane police showed up a few hours later, likely because state law prevents local police from assisting federal agents in the scope of their duties.

George questioned McIntosh about a protester he thought had a disturbing look in her eye. George suggested she may have been upset at the state of the country, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Perez objected . Attorneys are prohibited from suggesting or leading witnesses.

Perez and her co-counsel Lisa Cartier-Giroux told the court they believed George was making the comment to "put on a show" for the press and the audience "behind us."

The quick back-and-forth prompted U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pennell to address the court after the jury left to go home at the end of the day.

"This is not a place to be making appeals to the jury by either party. It takes a big risk and could turn off the jury, and they could rule against that side because they are offended," Pennell said. "If there is a good-faith belief that something touches on policies that would be relevant, please bring it to my attention outside of the courtroom."

Trial will continue Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

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