LOS ANGELES — The arrest of a California labor leader has become a rallying cry for immigrant advocates across the country who called for his release and an end to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
David Huerta, the 58-year-old president of Service Employees International Union California, was arrested Friday while protesting outside a business where federal law enforcement agents were investigating suspected immigration violations, authorities said. He was released from federal custody Monday on a $50,000 bond after a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, union members and immigrant advocates led rallies in cities from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York to call for Huerta’s release. In Boston, hundreds of people gathered in City Hall Plaza, with protesters shouting “Free David, free them all.”
Huerta, a long-time labor leader born and raised in Los Angeles County, has become the face of the pushback against Trump’s effort to drive up immigration arrests. His case has also drawn attention to the longstanding ties between Democratic officials and the union that represents hundreds of thousands of janitors, security officers and other workers across California.
After he was released, Huerta told reporters he did not intend to get arrested, and said the only way to win change is through nonviolence.
“This fight is ours, it’s our community’s, but it belongs to everyone,” Huerta said in Spanish. “We all have to fight for them.”
Protests broke out last week in Los Angeles in response to reports of immigration raids, and have escalated with thousands taking to the streets of the nation’s second-largest city after Trump took the extraordinary move of deploying the National Guard. Over the weekend, demonstrators blocked a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowd.
Huerta was arrested while law enforcement officers were executing a federal search warrant at a Los Angeles business suspected of hiring illegal immigrants and falsifying employment papers, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in a federal court filing.
A crowd of people including Huerta gathered outside the business yelling at the officers. Huerta sat down in front of a vehicular gate and encouraged others to walk in circles to try to prevent law enforcement from going in or out, the agent wrote, adding it was clear “he and the others had planned in advance of arrival to disrupt the operation.”
A law enforcement officer approached Huerta and told him to leave, then put his hands on Huerta to move him out of the way of a vehicle, the agent wrote. Huerta pushed back and the officer pushed Huerta to the ground and arrested him, according to the filing.
“Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said in a post on the social platform X. “No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.”
Messages left for Huerta’s attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, have not been returned.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and California’s two Democratic senators wrote a letter to federal officials demanding answers regarding Huerta’s arrest. California Sen. Adam Schiff attended Huerta’s bond hearing.
“It is deeply troubling that a U.S. citizen, union leader, and upstanding member of the Los Angeles community continues to be detained by the federal government for exercising his rights to observe immigration enforcement,” the senators wrote.
Huerta has worked for the SEIU for more than 25 years and was elected president of SEIU California, which has more than 750,000 members, in 2022. He was honored during the Obama administration for his efforts to build an immigrant integration program that included English classes for union members.
Huerta was injured during Friday’s arrest, the union said on its website.
In a statement, the SEIU condemned the immigration raids and said its members will continue to demonstrate for workers’ rights.
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Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Associated Press writer Leah Willingham in Boston contributed to this report.