The authorities released the Labor leader David Huerta on bail this week, days after his arrest for allegedly obstructing federal officers while protested a raid in immigration in Los Angeles.
Huerta, the president of Service Employee International Union of 58 years in California, one of the largest work unions in the country, said he focuses on the immigrants arrested in Los Angeles.
Defender of workers and immigrants in southern California for decades, Huerta has become a point of inflammation in a continuous confrontation between federal agents and protesters of immigration compliance.
Since the protests broke out in Los Angeles on Friday in response to immigration raids, the Trump administration has deployed 4,000 national guards and 700 Marines in the area. Some protesters have damaged the property, but the protests have been largely peaceful.
This is what you should know about David Huerta:
What do we know about David Huerta’s arrest?
Huerta was arrested while demonstrating against an immigration raid in a workplace in downtown Los Angeles. He was accused of conspiracy to prevent an officer, a serious crime that has a prison sentence of up to six years.
The federal law describes the crime as the use of “force, intimidation or threat” by two or more people to prevent federal officers from doing their duties, according to 18 US Code. Section 372.
Huerta arrived at a metal door near the workplace late on Friday morning, according to a criminal complaint, which alleged that Huerta shouted expletives and hit the door in an effort to intimidate federal agents.
When a white law truck approached the door, Huerta stopped on the road of the vehicle with his hands on his hips, said the criminal complaint.
When the officers asked the protesters to clear the way, Huerta refused, the complaint added, saying that an officer “put his hands in Huerta” in an attempt to get him out of the road from the vehicle. According to the complaint, Huerta pushed the officer and the officer approached him, finally putting Huerta Escape.
In mail In X on Friday, American prosecutor Bill Ensayli described the arrest of Huerta, saying: “I don’t care who it is, if it prevents federal agents, they will be arrested and processed.”
Some union leaders and democratic members of the House of Representatives criticized the arrest as an effort to intimidate protesters and criminalize peaceful demonstrations.
Democratic representative Judy Chu, whose district includes part of Los Angeles, said in a statement that the federal authorities had tried to “silence those who dare to speak against the cruel and illegal immigration agenda of the Trump administration.”
“It is clear that the president of Seiu, David Huerta, was exercising his right to observe the police activity and be with the community in peaceful protest towards these raids,” Chu added.
David Huerta, president of Seiu California and Seiu USWW speaks as the governor of California Gavin Newsom signs the Fast food bill Ab1228 in Los Angeles, on September 28, 2023.
Ringo Chiu Via Ap
After his arrest, Huerta was taken to a hospital, where he received a head injury. Then he entered the federal custody. The authorities published Huerta on Monday with a bail of $ 50,000.
Huerta did not enter a plea, and her reading of charges is scheduled for July 7, Palacio news service reported.
“It was not my intention to be arrested,” Huerta told journalists outside the court after his release, seems to contain tears.
Huerta said his approach remains in immigrants arrested by federal officers. “While we are here and there are protests outside, that means that, in there, they are locked up,” said Huerta.
Who is David Huerta?
Huerta is an organizer and labor leader for a long time in the International Union of Service Employees, which has 2.2 million members throughout the country.
He began his career as an organizer based in California with Preservys For Justice, a national work campaign that sought to increase wages and improve working conditions for cleaners in commercial buildings. The workforce, composed mainly of immigrants, won employers concessions in several important cities, including angels.
During a possession of decades in Seiu, Huerta supervised the organization campaigns that involved thousands of janitors and other service workers. He also directed the efforts to bring immigrant workers to the organization’s activities, including English classes for union members.
President Barack Obama gave Huerta as a National Champion of Change In 2014.
In 2022, Huerta was elected president of the Seiu de California, which has 750,000 union members.
The union helped lead an effort to earn a minimum wage of $ 20 per hour for about 500,000 fast food workers throughout California, many of which are immigrants. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed in November 2023 a measure that consecrated the high minimum wage for fast food workers. The law entered into force last April.
