Labor Leader David Huerta Speaks Out After ICE Attack

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FEATURING DAVID HUERTA - When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began terrorizing Los Angeles, among their first casualties was SEIU California president David Huerta who was violently arrested for defending immigrant workers. 

Huerta was held for three days in a dramatic early turn of events that galvanized Southern California’s labor movement and brought tens of thousands of people out into the streets of downtown LA. He now faces a felony charge of impeding a federal officer. 

At the Netroots Nation 2025 conference in New Orleans where Huerta gave a speech, I had the chance to speak with the labor leader, who had just been cleared for interviews for the first time since his arrest.

Special thanks to Free Speech TV for sponsoring my travel.

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Sonali Kolhatkar: Welcome to the program, David Huerta. 

David Huerta: Yes, thank you. 

Kolhatkar: I was standing outside the Federal detention center when you were inside in mid-June after you had been arrested. And I was with thousands and thousands of people holding “Free David Huerta” signs. And I wanna begin by asking you, how ICE agents seem to have tried to make an example of you when they arrested you, but it seems as though it had the opposite effect, that it galvanized LA and LA organizers, especially labor in a way that has actually borne fruit and shown mass resistance. Would you agree that that's kind of how things played out in big terms? 

Huerta: Uh, yes. I, I do agree. I mean, it was you know, I didn't quite understand it like that when I was inside for those three days. And you know, at the time, you know, I was really, I don't wanna say, conflicted is the wrong word, it was more just like concerned what was happening or what was, you know…

But when I came out and it took me time, it was kinda like drinking water out of a fire hydrant as quickly as things came at me, going in, coming out was the same kind of energy as like, trying to catch up to what had actually happened. 

And seeing that and just coming out and realizing it. And realizing it now, how galvanizing that was.