Labor leader

UPDATE: Huerta was released on bail on Monday afternoon, according to his union.

Original story: The arrest of a California union leader in Los Angeles’s immigration protests has caused anger throughout the Labor Movement, with unions that denounce the Trump administration and ask for the immediate release of David Huerta.

Huerta, president of an affiliate from the International Union of Service Employees, was injured on Friday in what his union was a raid in the workplace of immigration agents and customs compliance with the United States. The union said that Huerta was peacefully “exercising his right of the first amendment to observe and document the activity of application of the law” at that time.

He was discharged from the hospital on the same day and detained. American prosecutor Bill Essayli alleged X that Huerta had been “interfering with federal officers” when blocking his vehicle and said he would be prosecuted in court on Monday.

The United States Prosecutor’s Office in Los Angeles said Monday that Huerta had been accused of “conspiracy to prevent an officer”, which can take up to six years in prison.

Huerta is the head of Service World West, a powerful union of 50,000 workers based in California, many of them Latin immigrants who work as janitor. He is also the president of Seiu California, an influential group that politically advocates the chapters of the Union in the State.

As a union of service workers, Seiu is among the most open in the defense of immigrants at a time when President Donald Trump promises to increase deportations of undocumented workers. Huerta said in a statement through Seiu California that “working people” were being “treated as criminals.”

His arrest reinforces the main role that labor groups could end up playing to combat the repression of White House immigration during Trump’s second mandate. The AFL-CiO labor federation planned Monday in cities around the country that ask for the release of Huerta.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, which includes 63 unions, told News themezone in a demonstration in Washington, DC, that the unions should be together and defend the workers against deportation.

“I think our mission is now basically to show that these raids in workplaces and attacks against families at the community level … [these] They are our neighbors, our co -workers, “he said.” These are people looking for a better life and contribute to our economy. “

Myung J. Chun through Getty Images

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the largest unions in the country, told News themezone that the garden treatment was “unacceptable.”

“This is the right to make your feelings listened peacefully,” Saunders said. “That is exactly what he was doing. However, he was beaten and took him to the hospital, and is still in jail.”

He added: “We cannot bear this. We cannot sit and we cannot remain silent.”

Anti-Hielo protests sprouted in Los Angeles on Friday after immigration officials raided a clothing manufacturer in the center. Hundreds of protesters later converged in a federal building in the city and faced with national security security officers who triggered pepper. The Los Angeles Police Department said he made more than 50 arrests during the weekend.

Trump deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard in the city, attracting a rebuke of the governor of California Gavin Newsom. The Governor said on Sunday that the State was presenting a lawsuit against the Administration with the reasons that it had illegally federalized the California National Guard only to increase tension.

It seems to be the First time in 60 years that a president has mobilized the National Guard of a State without a governor asking.

Jaime Contreras, the president of the Latin Caucus of Seiu, said in a speech in the demonstration of Monday in DC that he found the deployment of Trump of the Food National Guard.

“Being a veteran, I find that unpleasant, disturbing, insulting and unconstitutional,” said Contreras.