Who is David Huerta, the labor leader arrested in Los Angeles?

By Christina Morales

The arrest of the prominent California union leader David Huerta on Friday as he protested an immigration raid in Los Angeles quickly drew condemnation from national labor activists and Democrats.

Huerta — the president of the Service Employees International Union of California — was released Monday but is still facing charges. He has become a symbol for those protesting the Trump administration’s immigration raids. The protests were further inflamed by President Donald Trump’s decision Saturday to send 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell demonstrations, followed by his decision Monday to more than double that deployment.

Here’s what we know.

Why was Huerta arrested?

On Friday, Huerta was detained by federal agents while protesting an immigration raid at a worksite in downtown Los Angeles. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to impede an officer.

According to a criminal complaint, federal agents conducted search warrants at four businesses suspected of employing immigrants living in the country illegally and falsifying employment records.

Huerta arrived at the worksite in the early afternoon, with protesters already gathered. Huerta and others were accused of “communicating with each other in a concerted effort to disrupt the law enforcement operations,” according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint also accused Huerta of yelling at officers and sitting cross-legged in front of a vehicular gate, as well as urging demonstrators to “stop the vehicles,” and continue protesting.

The union said in a statement that Huerta was acting as a peaceful “community observer” at the raids when he was arrested.

A video of the incident showed a federal agent pushing Huerta while his hands were at his hips. He then fell to the ground.

He was briefly hospitalized and treated for a head injury Friday. He remained in custody until Monday, when he was released on a $50,000 bond.

What is Huerta’s background in the labor movement?

Huerta has been a well-known figure in the California labor movement for decades. His leadership is intertwined with immigrant rights, like many other union causes in the state.

He began his career as an organizer with Justice for Janitors, an effort to organize the largely immigrant — and also lacking permanent legal status — workforce charged with cleaning offices and other commercial buildings. He brought together more than 2,500 janitors, who later went on strike for better wages and benefits in the in the 1990s, charting a course for Los Angeles to become a union town.

He has worked for the SEIU — which represents more than 750,000 workers in California — for more than 25 years. In 2014, he became the president of the SEIU Workers West, which comprised 45,000 janitors, security officers, airport service workers and other property service employees.

He was elected president of the state’s SEIU in 2022. Huerta has pushed for legislation increasing paid sick leave for workers in California and raising the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers. He also built an immigration integration program, which includes English classes for union members and has helped hundreds of others become U.S. citizens.

In 2014, President Barack Obama recognized Huerta as a National Champion of Change.

Huerta was born and raised in Los Angeles County and now lives there with his wife and two children.