California labor leader’s felony charge over immigration protest is reduced

The leader of a labor union in Southern California who was arrested while protesting an immigration raid earlier this year will have his felony obstruction charge reduced to a misdemeanor, court records show.

David Huerta had been charged with obstruction, resistance or opposition to a federal officer – a class A felony, according to a Friday filing by Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in federal court.

However, prosecutors filed a proposed order Saturday seeking dismissal without prejudice of the original felony charge of conspiracy to impede an officer.

The Associated Press sent an email Saturday seeking comment from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement Friday that Huerta was simply observing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raid to ensure workers were being treated fairly and was unfairly arrested and charged.

“This is a gross abuse of power by an administration hell-bent on punishing its perceived enemies and attacking immigrants, the statement said. 

Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, was arrested on June 6 while protesting outside a business in Los Angeles where federal agents were investigating suspected immigration violations.

A crowd of people gathered outside 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, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in an earlier federal court filing.

An officer told Huerta 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. Huerta was injured during the arrest and was hospitalized as a result, the union said. 

Huerta was later released from federal custody on a $50,000 bond.

Huerta’s union represents hundreds of thousands of janitors, security officers and other workers across California. His arrest became a rallying cry for immigrant advocates across the country as they called for his release and an end to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. SEIU officials protested in Washington, D.C., in support of Huerta’s release.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders denounced the arrest. Newsom wrote in a statement then that Huerta is a “respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people.”

Abbe David Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, Huerta’s attorneys, said in a statement that they will seek “the speediest trial” to vindicate him.

“In the four months that have passed since David’s arrest. it has become even clearer there were no grounds for charging him and certainly none for the way he was treated,” they wrote. “This case is not a good-faith pursuit of justice but a bald act of retaliation, designed to silence dissent and punish opposition. It reflects the Trump Administration’s continued weaponization of prosecutorial power against its perceived opponents.”