The arrest of a high-profile union chief throughout ICE protests final week has prompted an outcry throughout labor organizations throughout the U.S., and will mark the start of a brand new escalation between organized labor and President Donald Trump within the struggle over immigration.
David Huerta, the president of the Service Staff Worldwide Union of California (SEIU), was taken to the hospital on Friday the place he was handled for accidents sustained throughout his arrest by ICE, in response to a press release from the SEIU. He was launched from federal custody on Monday, on a $50,000 bond, and charged with conspiracy to impede an officer. If convicted, he may face six years in jail.
The SEIU didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark.
Huerta’s arrest befell throughout protests towards ICE, when demonstrators in Los Angeles took to the streets to protest the immigration raids of garment staff. The Trump administration has lengthy promised lofty deportation objectives, and has set a quota in Could of arresting 3,000 immigrants a day. The ICE raids in California are a part of that new push. In response to the protests, President Donald Trump has ordered as much as 4,000 Nationwide Guard troops and one other 700 Marines to the town, over the objections of state officers. California has sued over the transfer, saying it violates state sovereignty.
Huerta’s arrest has prompted a number of unions throughout the U.S. to sentence the administration’s actions, and will show to be a turning level within the relationship between organized labor and the Trump administration. In his marketing campaign final yr, the president made inroads when it got here to profitable the help of union members, if not the unions themselves, and main unions just like the Brotherhood of Teamsters selected to not endorse any candidate. However the actions of ICE in Los Angeles, and Huerta’s arrest, have prompted an outpouring of fury from organized labor.
SEIU president April Verrett launched a press release after Huerta’s launch on June 9, condemning his arrest by ICE, the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, and Trump’s choice to ship within the Nationwide Guard. “[T]his struggle is about much more than just one man. Thousands of workers remain unjustly detained and separated from their families,” she wrote. “At this very moment, immigrant communities are being terrorized by heavily militarized armed forces. The Trump regime calling in the National Guard is a dangerous escalation to target people who disagree with them. It is a threat to our democracy.”
The AFL-CIO, the most important federation of unions within the nation, wrote in a press release on June 7: “As the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has unnecessarily targeted our hardworking immigrant brothers and sisters, David was exercising his constitutional rights and conducting legal observation of ICE activity in his community.”
After Huerta’s arrest, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Staff wrote on June 8: “That is one more instance of the reckless and harmful method deportations are being carried out, focusing on hardworking neighborhood members. They’re now attempting to silence union leaders who dare to talk up.”
A number of California unions got here out in help of Huerta, together with the California Academics Affiliation and SAG-AFTRA.
Huerta’s arrest and the ICE raids in Los Angeles have additionally ignited counterdemonstrations throughout the nation over the previous few days. “Make no mistake, history is being written right now,” mentioned Abel Fuaau, a district consultant for the Worldwide Union of Working Engineers, Native 39, at a rally in San Francisco on Monday, KQED reported. “And as the old union hymn goes, which side are you on? Who are you with?”
At one other rally in New York Metropolis, Manny Pastreich, president of SEIU’s 32BJ chapter, instructed the assembled crowd on June 9: “We must fight back. We reject these attacks on our communities and demand the immediate release of our union brother David Huerta.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
