Justice Department drops criminal charge against labor leader David Huerta

LOS ANGELES (CN) — David Huerta, president of SEIU-United Service Workers West, celebrated Monday’s decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to drop its charge against him.

Huerta’s arrest stemmed from the backlash against federal immigration actions during summer 2025. Protests erupted in Los Angeles as federal agents descended on the city. President Donald Trump said on social media that the city had been “invaded and occupied by illegal Aliens and Criminals.”

Authorities arrested dozens of people during those protests, including Huerta, who faced a charge of conspiracy to impede an officer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California filed a motion to dismiss the case on Monday.

“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. “There was never a real case, only an attempt to punish and silence me for exercising my constitutional rights.”

Federal authorities said in a statement at the time that Huerta had alternatively sat and paced in front of a gate, stopping officers from entering an area where Immigration and Customs Enforcement was executing a search warrant to look for laborers without legal status to work.

Authorities said Huerta also directed other protesters, telling them what action to take. When an officer put his hands on Huerta to move him, Huerta pushed back. An officer then pushed Huerta to the ground, and he was handcuffed.

A judge released him on bond days later at his first court appearance.

Responding to Courthouse News, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said the Justice Department doesn’t arrest people for protesting peacefully.

“Mr. Huerta has agreed to accept responsibility for his actions,” the office said in a statement. “For 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. Pursuant to an agreement entered into with our office, if Mr. Huerta continues to comply with his pretrial release terms, we expect the criminal case against him to be fully dismissed by the end of next month.”

According to prosecutors, they’ll dismiss the charge without prejudice Monday. They’ll move within 30 days to dismiss it with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled.

Huerta said agents targeted him for questioning their actions, claiming his words and presence interfered with them. He argued the First Amendment protected his actions, though agents tackled, pepper-sprayed and detained him.

“The administration’s weaponization of the judicial system never deterred me from fighting for what’s right,” he added. “I will keep exercising my constitutional rights and protest every abuse this administration commits, and I will keep working to build a country that treats immigrant families and all workers with the dignity they deserve.”

Attorneys Abbe David Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, who represent Huerta, said in a statement that prosecutors had no legal basis for the case. Their client protested peacefully outside an ICE operation and federal agents arrested him for that.

“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,” they said. “That is not how a justice system is supposed to work.”

Governor Gavin Newsom sued Trump over mobilizing the National Guard for the Los Angeles protests. Newsom argued presidents can only call up members of a state National Guard through that state’s governor, making Trump’s federalization of them unlawful.

The suit is ongoing.