Unions Demand Release Of David Huerta, SEIU Leader Arrested In LA ICE Raids

Huerta was charged with "conspiracy to impede an officer." His union said he was peacefully exercising his First Amendment rights.

The arrest of a California union leader in the Los Angeles immigration protests has sparked anger across the labor movement, with unions denouncing the Trump administration and calling for the immediate release of David Huerta.

Huerta, the president of a Service Employees International Union affiliate, was injured Friday in what his union said was a workplace raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The union said Huerta was peacefully “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity” at the time.

He was released from the hospital the same day and detained. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli alleged on X that Huerta had been “interfering with federal officers” by blocking their vehicle and said he would be arraigned in court Monday.

The U.S. attorney’s office in LA said Monday that Huerta had been charged with “conspiracy to impede an officer,” which can carry up to six years in prison.

Huerta is the head of SEIU-United Service Workers West, a powerful California-based union of 50,000 workers, many of them Latino immigrants who work as janitors. He is also the president of SEIU California, an influential group that advocates politically for the union’s chapters in the state.