LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors have dismissed charges against Service Employees International Union California (SEIU California) and SEIU-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) President David Huerta, more than a year after he was arrested and hospitalized while documenting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Los Angeles.
“This case revealed that the Department of Justice was willing to charge a labor leader with a crime, hold it over him for months, and then walk away from it once the charge couldn’t survive scrutiny,” Abbe Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, Huerta’s attorneys, said in a joint statement July 27, the Los Angeles Times reported. “That is not how a justice system is supposed to work.”
Huerta was arrested June 6, 2025, for documenting an ICE raid in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times, where 44 allegedly undocumented immigrants were detained.
Huerta was hospitalized following a head injury he sustained when ICE agents forced him to the ground and pepper-sprayed him, which was broadcast by NBC 4.
“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger,” Huerta said in a statement from the hospital in June 2025, according to the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
He was originally arrested for allegedly conspiring to impede an officer, a felony that could have resulted in a sentence of six years in prison. The charges were then reduced in October 2025 to “obstruction, resistance or opposition of a federal officer,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are — if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a statement on X on June 7, 2025. “No one has the right to assault, obstruct or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.”
The trial was scheduled to begin next month, and had Huerta been found guilty, he could have been sentenced to a year in federal prison, the Los Angeles Times also reported.
Labor unions, immigration advocates and other community organizers rallied for Huerta’s release, according to columnist Anita Chabria, and have continued their support following the dismissal of his charges.
“No one should face criminal prosecution for exercising their First Amendment rights or for peacefully bearing witness to government actions,” Hussam Ayloush, CEO of the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA), said in a statement July 27. “The move to dismiss David Huerta’s case is a welcome step toward justice, but it cannot erase the harm caused by the government’s decision to target a respected labor leader for defending the rights of immigrants.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, federal prosecutors have “aggressively” filed more than 100 cases against ICE protesters. While 40 of those cases have received guilty verdicts, 29 cases were dismissed, 10 cases have resulted in acquittals at trial and two have resulted in convictions.
“Federal authorities must respect the constitutional rights of protesters, legal observers, labor leaders, journalists and community advocates, and abandon tactics that discourage public accountability,” Ayloush said.
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