Bill Essayli, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, wrote on social media that Huerta had “deliberately obstructed” federal agents who had a judicial warrant by blocking their car. Ciaran McEvoy, spokesperson for Essayli’s office, would not share the warrant, saying only that the agents were “targeting employers and businesses believed to not be in compliance with federal immigration laws.”
The union leader is detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA and is scheduled to make an initial appearance Monday afternoon on charges of impeding a federal agent.
“Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals,” Huerta said in a statement released by SEIU California after he was treated in the hospital for injuries during the arrest on Friday. “We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice.”
The union is planning a protest Monday to call for his release.
“He represents a union that is a lot of immigrant women,” Gonzalez said. “He’s a constant and consistent voice for immigrant workers, and he’s been at the forefront of fighting for a path to citizenship and to stop deportations and workplace raids.”
At the warehouse where Huerta was arrested Friday, a crowd of workers’ advocates and other protesters had gathered to watch federal agents at Ambiance Apparel; an immigration raid was also reported at Ambiance’s storefront in downtown LA’s garment district.
ICE reported that it served four search warrants that day, arresting 44 immigrants who were in the U.S. without authorization, all during worksite raids.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
