Federal prosecutors on Monday, July 27 moved to drop a misdemeanor obstruction charge against local labor leader David Huerta, who was arrested last year during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a downtown garment business.<\/p>\n
The move to dismiss the case is \u201cpursuant to an agreement entered into with our office,\u201d according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
But the office insisted the motion was not a suggestion the criminal charge was unwarranted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Justice does not arrest people for peacefully protesting,\u201d the statement said. \u201cMr. Huerta was charged with unlawfully interfering with the execution of a judicial search warrant.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Huerta has agreed to accept responsibility for his actions,\u201d the office said. \u201cFor the last 13 months, he has been compliant with the terms of his bond and has not engaged in the same obstructive behavior that led to his arrest and criminal charges being filed against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said if Huerta \u201ccontinues to comply with his pretrial release terms,\u201d the case will likely be dismissed by the end of August.<\/p>\n
Huerta \u2014 the president of the Service Employees International-United Service Workers West union \u2014 was charged with a felony count of conspiring to impede an immigration officer, but the charge was later downgraded to a misdemeanor count of obstructing a federal officer.<\/p>\n
The charge stemmed from a June 6, 2025, immigration raid at an Ambiance apparel warehouse in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe charge against me was baseless,\u201d Huerta said in a Monday statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat day, I loudly questioned the agents\u2019 actions, and I was singled out for it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey claimed my words and my presence interfered with their operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy actions, however infuriating to the federal agents, were protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution and for that I was tackled, pepper-sprayed and detained,\u201d he said. \u201cI consider myself fortunate to have been only detained, considering the murders in Minneapolis, Houston, Miami, and the deplorable conditions at federal detention centers throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video from the immigration raid shows Huerta being pushed out of the way of a white van driven onto the warehouse property, then being tackled and taken into custody. A criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court accused Huerta of cursing and taunting federal agents at the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometime later, Huerta and another person sat cross-legged in front of the vehicular gate,\u201d according to an affidavit in support of the complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuerta waved at those around him and yelled, \u2018Everybody sit down, sit down!\u2019 \u201d it says. \u201cIn addition to sitting in front of the gate, Huerta at various times stood up and paced in front of the gate, effectively preventing law enforcement vehicles from entering or exiting the premises through the gate to execute the search warrant. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cAs officers issued instructions to clear the way, Huerta refused to move away from the path of the vehicle and instead stood in front of the vehicle with his hands on his hips.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huerta was held for three days before getting released on bond.<\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the authorities speaking out last year on behalf of Huerta, calling him a \u201crespected leader, a patriot and an advocate for working people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should ever be harmed with witnessing government action,\u201d Newsom said.<\/p>\n
Huerta\u2019s lawyers, Abbed David Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, issued a statement Monday saying the case against Huerta \u201chad no legal basis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal prosecutors on Monday, July 27 moved to drop a misdemeanor obstruction charge against local labor leader David…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,1312,138,1647,48,52,51,47,137,50,49,100,136],"class_list":["post-414898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-courts","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-downtown-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}