Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta was injured and detained while documenting an immigration enforcement raid in downtown Los Angeles Friday, labor union officials said — prompting protests and calls for his release.
Huerta, 58, was treated at a hospital and then transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A., where he remained in custody as of 5:30 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the labor union. Protesters spray-painted the center with messages such as “F— ICE,” “Burn Prisons” and “Abolish ICE.”
“What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger,” he said in a statement from the hospital. “This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice.”
The labor union said in a statement that Huerta was detained while “while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.”
Federal authorities, however, said Huerta deliberately obstructed federal agents’ access to a worksite where they were executing a warrant by blocking their vehicle.
Agents executed four search warrants across L.A. Friday related to the suspected harboring of people illegally in the country, according to Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
“Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are — if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli wrote in a statement on X. “No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.”
Elected officials representing Los Angeles at the city, county, state and federal levels released a flurry of statements condemning Huerta’s arrest, criticizing the raids and decrying the Trump administration’s escalation of deportations.
“SEIU California President David Huerta was injured by federal agents and wrongfully detained,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn. “I am calling for his immediate release. This is a democracy. People have a right to peacefully protest, to observe law enforcement activity, and to speak out against injustice.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom called Huerta a respected leader, patriot and advocate for working people.
“No one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action,” he wrote on X.
Essayli said Huerta was arrested on suspicion of interfering with federal officers and will be arraigned Monday.
“There is not a First Amendment right to physically obstruct law enforcement officers from executing a duly issued warrant,” said Harmeet Dhillon, the U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) called for Huerta’s immediate release, saying he was “violently thrown to the ground” by ICE agents.
“We are better than this and every American should be alarmed,” McGuire said in a statement.
Aside from Huerta, 44 people were administratively arrested during Friday’s immigration action, O’Keefe said.
Hundreds of people rallied outside the Los Angeles Federal Building, condemning the crackdown and demanding Huerta’s release.
By 6:30 p.m., a crowd of more than 100 people had gathered outside an immigration services building and detention center downtown, with several protesters wearing T-shirts with the words, “ICE out of L.A.”
Mandy Bell, a 65-year-old Koreatown resident, said she saw a video from the protests earlier in the day and was eager to join.
“Immigrants are not the enemy,” she said. “I didn’t think the raids would come here. It’s so wrong, so I’ll be out here. I gotta find out when the next protest is.”
The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse around 7 p.m.
At 7:30 p.m., around eight police vehicles and a group of about 50 officers in riot gear closed in on a group of protesters on North Alameda Street, while a secondary group of protesters further back shouted “shame on you” at the officers.
“We’re out here because people are living in fear right now,” one protester shouted at an officer. “You know someone who is.”
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