US justice department dismisses charges against California union leader

David Huerta, the president of the SEIU-USWW California, speaks after he was released on a bond in downtown Los Angeles on 9 June 2025. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP View image in fullscreen David Huerta, the president of the SEIU-USWW California, speaks after he was released on a bond in downtown Los Angeles on 9 June 2025. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP US justice department dismisses charges against California union leader David Huerta was arrested while protesting against an ICE operation during crackdown in Los Angeles The Department of Justice (DoJ) has moved to dismiss charges against a prominent California union leader who was arrested while protesting an immigration raid in Los Angeles last year, in the latest US government case against protesters to fall apart. David Huerta, the president of Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, was arrested at a June 2025 demonstration and has been fighting the charges ever since. On Monday, the US attorney’s office in LA filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him. Huerta was initially charged with “conspiracy to impede an officer”, a serious felony, though prosecutors earlier this year downgraded those charges to a misdemeanor of “obstruction, resistance, or opposition of a federal officer”. The misdemeanor is now on track for dismissal. The justice department in Los Angeles has aggressively prosecuted immigrants and protesters for “impeding” and “assaulting” immigration officers, but many of those cases have collapsed in court , with prosecutors facing a stunning streak of losses when the charges have gone to trial . “This means the government is finally admitting what we knew from day one and what was obvious to anyone who saw the videos: the charge against me was baseless, meant to intimidate anyone who dares to speak out, organize, or demand justice,” Huerta said in a statement on Monday. “There was never a real case, only an attempt to punish and silence me for exercising my constitutional rights.” The charges against Huerta stemmed from a 6 June 2025 protest against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in LA’s garment district at the start of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant communities in southern California. He was shot at by ICE, then wrongfully accused. His nightmare had only just begun Read more Huerta’s arrest was partially caught on camera , with footage showing him on the ground and agents on top of him during chaotic confrontations between officers and protesters. He was arrested and charged based on claims he was blocking a gate in front of a business’s warehouse where immigration agents were trying to make arrests. Huerta was hospitalized after his arrest, and his prosecution became one of the first high-profile criminal cases against a demonstrator objecting to ICE’s operations. The charges sparked widespread outrage, with the LA mayor, Karen Bass, criticizing the federal government for targeting “one of the