A year after California labor leader arrested at immigration protest, feds move to drop case

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Set us as preferred Federal prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to dismiss the case against David Huerta, the labor leader who was arrested during the first day of a series of immigration raids that the Trump administration carried out in the region last summer.In the court filing, prosecutors said “pursuant to an agreement of the parties,” they were moving to dismiss the indictment against Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, who was detained by federal agents while documenting an immigration raid on June 6.The government initially charged Huerta with a felony count of conspiracy to impede an officer, but later downgraded it to a misdemeanor charge of “obstruction resistance or opposition of a federal officer.” He was set to go to trial next month.At the time of his arrest, First Assistant U.S.Atty.

Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in L.A., blasted Huerta’s photo on X, stating, “Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted.”In a statement, the U.S.attorney’s office in Los Angeles maintained that the Department of Justice “does not arrest people for peacefully protesting” and that since Huerta’s arrest he “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,” the office said.Huerta hailed the move for a dismissal as a victory.“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 ...