Union Leader David Huerta Faces Up to a Year in Prison for Alleged Interference in Federal Immigration Raid
David Huerta, a prominent California labor leader, is confronting up to a year in prison for allegedly interfering in a federal immigration raid last year in Los Angeles. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, but he is not remaining silent during this period.
"I was tackled, I was pepper-sprayed, I was detained [while] exercising a First Amendment right," Huerta, 58, told HuffPost in an interview this week. "I firmly believe that everything that's happened since then ― not only to myself but to others ― is with the intention to silence dissent. It's state repression against people who are exercising their First Amendment rights."
Background and Charges
Huerta serves as the president of Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, a union representing 50,000 janitors and other service workers, many of whom are first- and second-generation immigrants. He gained national attention last June due to an encounter with federal agents outside a clothing wholesale company. According to a complaint, Huerta allegedly refused to make way for a law enforcement van, leading to an officer grabbing him and Huerta pushing back. A bystander's video captured officers throwing Huerta to the ground and arresting him.
Prosecutors initially filed a felony conspiracy charge that carried a potential sentence of up to six years in prison. However, they later downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor after several similar federal cases failed to result in convictions. As a father of two, Huerta admitted that the possibility of prison time was overwhelming initially. He felt that Trump-aligned prosecutors viewed him as a "trophy" to be "put on the mantle." U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted a photo of Huerta in handcuffs on X, stating, "I don't care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted."
Political and Labor Activism
Huerta has been a high-profile figure in California labor and Democratic politics for years, so it was unsurprising that videos of his arrest sparked early protests against the White House's immigration policies. While in federal custody, he was unaware that people across the country had taken to the streets to rally for his release. "I didn't realize the impact it had until I got out," he said.
Since then, significant changes have occurred. The Trump administration has expanded its deportation campaign to other Democratic-led cities. The GOP Congress has allocated billions of dollars for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hiring spree. Additionally, masked agents have fatally shot at least two anti-ICE protesters. Despite these developments, Huerta expresses no despair. Instead, he finds hope in the resistance movements unfolding in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis.
"In Minneapolis, it's like they took it to another level ― another level of resistance," he noted. "That's the most shocking part. And I think people see that." He added, "I firmly believe that the people right now who are in the crosshairs of this administration are going to be the heroes of this democracy."
Personal History and Union Advocacy
Huerta is no stranger to street protests, having begun his career as an organizer on SEIU's landmark Justice for Janitors campaign in the 1990s. During that time, the union used civil disobedience to boost wages for poor, mostly Latino workers in Southern California. For Huerta, immigrant rights and worker rights have always been intertwined, both in his union work and his family background. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Mexico; his father was a farm worker and later a Teamster in East LA. (Huerta's mother died when he was 4.)
"[I saw] the impact the union had on my family," he recalled. "My father was a single father and was able to provide for his kids loading and unloading trucks. I don't know if that's possible today."
Call for Labor Solidarity and General Strikes
Organized labor is a key ally in the broader coalition opposing Trump's immigration crackdown, but not all individual unions choose to speak up. Some labor officials fear alienating conservative members or angering a White House keen on retribution. Huerta argues that it is a basic matter of solidarity for every union to join the fight at this point.
"We're not there yet, to be perfectly honest," he said. "We, as a labor movement, can no longer act as if there's not a side to pick, as if somehow… our role is to represent workers, not organize workers. Labor has to be able to lean in and pick the side of justice, righteous justice. We can't somehow play the middle."
The Minneapolis labor movement has served as an example, according to Huerta. After an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in her car, an alliance of labor, faith, and community groups orchestrated a general strike on Jan. 23 to protest the federal presence in the Twin Cities. Participation was robust enough to shut down many businesses for the day, leading to a massive demonstration of thousands in downtown Minneapolis.
Huerta is convinced that general strikes should be a tool in labor's arsenal, moving from a "defensive posture" ― such as know-your-rights trainings and rapid response for detained workers ― to going "on offense." "Donald Trump does really well because he smashes [the system], he breaks it, he builds it back the way he wants it," Huerta explained. "And unless we're willing to be bold, we're going to find ourselves out of that equation… So should we use a general strike as a tool? Absolutely. We should be prepared to use that tool because I think our democracy is worth it."
Some labor leaders, including Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union, have been urging unions to align their contracts to expire on May 1, 2028, to facilitate a massive general strike on May Day. Huerta has become a supporter of this idea as well. His union's contract for California janitors is already scheduled to expire on that date. Speaking at the UAW's conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Huerta emphasized that all unions should prepare to "shut the whole thing down."
"We're not going to win without taking some risk," he told HuffPost. "Think about it: An immigrant worker who steps out of their house every day to go to work, they take that risk every day because they [need to] provide for their families. I think labor has to ask… what are we willing to risk as a means to protect families and to make change?"
