California labor leader pleads not guilty to misdemeanor over immigration protest
LOS ANGELES– The leader of a major Southern California union, arrested while protesting an immigration raid earlier this year, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge and will go on trial in January.
David Huerta is president of the Service Employees International Union California. He was arrested June 6 as he joined a crowd of protesters outside a Los Angeles business where federal agents were investigating alleged immigration violations.
Huerta was initially charged with obstructing, resisting or opposing a federal officer – a class A felony. However, federal prosecutors last month dismissed the original charge of conspiring to obstruct an officer.
On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice. His trial is scheduled to begin on January 20, 2026, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At the June protest, Huerta sat in front of a vehicle gate and encouraged others to walk in circles to try to block law enforcement from entering or exiting, wrote a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A police officer told Huerta to leave, then put his hand on Huerta to move him out of the way of a passing vehicle, the officer wrote. Huerta pushed back and the officer pushed Huerta to the ground and arrested him, according to the filing.
Huerta’s union represents hundreds of thousands of janitors, security guards and other workers across California. His arrest became a rallying cry for immigrant advocates across the country, who were calling for his release and an end to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Father David Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, Huerta’s lawyers, said in a statement that they would seek “the most expeditious trial” to vindicate him.
