SEIU, labor allies rally for David Huerta

Huerta, President of SEIU California, was arrested while exercising his right to observe ICE carrying out a workplace raid in Los Angeles

SEATTLE, WA (June 10, 2025) — Hundreds of SEIU members, fellow union members, and community groups like OneAmerica marched and rallied in downtown Seattle on Monday, calling for the immediate release of SEIU leader David Huerta, who was violently arrested on Friday while peacefully observing an immigration raid at a worksite. Seattle’s protest was one of dozens across the nation organized by SEIU to pressure the federal government to release Huerta and end workplace raids.

Hours after, Huerta was released from custody and returned to his family. He faces charges of impeding an officer; video in the moments leading up to the arrest shows a federal agent shoving Huerta — whose hands are on his hips — to the ground, where Huerta appears to hit his head against the pavement. He was taken to the hospital for treatment after arrest.

Hundreds of union members and community supporters packed the courtyard in front of Seattle City Hall Monday.

Speakers at Monday’s rally decried Huerta’s detention, as well as the practice of militarized ICE raids and arrests that many in labor view as attempts to silence workers and anyone who dares to speak out against injustice. It’s a reasonable view, as these raids are often carried out by masked federal agents, clad in military gear, who are grabbing workers off the street and taking them from their families, even those with green cards or citizenship. Combined with immigration actions targeting immigrant union organizers, it appears immigration enforcement is designed to intimidate workers, not protect communities.

“Removing caregivers and janitors and restaurant workers from our communities is not going to make us better. This wave of terror must stop,” said Sterling Harders, President of SEIU 775. “Every person in this country should feel safe and able to exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Despite the federal administration’s sensationalized claims of targeting the “worst of the worst,” many of those who have been swept up in the recent immigration crackdown are in fact hard-working, beloved members of communities here in the U.S., like union siblings Lewelyn Dixon, Lelo Juarez, and Maximo Londonio.

“We stand side by side with David in insisting that immigrant rights are workers’ rights,” added Greg Ramirez, Deputy Director of SEIU 6. “Immigrant workers are vital to all sectors of our economy — harvesting our food, cleaning our buildings, caring for our sick loved ones. They are also our neighbors, our family, our friends.”

A chant that rang out repeatedly throughout the crowd echoed this sentiment: “We are a better nation because of immigration.”

While Huerta has been released, Washington’s labor movement continues to call for an end to ICE raids terrorizing workers, for all those held at Tacoma’s NW Detention Center to be released, and for the for-profit detention center to be shut down.

 

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A post shared by Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (@waaflcio)