The Brief

David Huerta, who leads the powerful Service Employees International Union California, was released from custody on Monday after his arrest during a downtown L.A. immigration raid set off a firestorm.

His arrest on Friday happened during confrontations with federal immigration agents, one of several that have extended through the weekend, resulting in multiple arrests.

Over the weekend, calls for his release grew louder from a chorus that included elected officials and hundreds of people who gathered for a demonstration on Monday.

Demonstrators call for the release of David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU-USWW, who was arrested on June 6 during federal immigration operations, at Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles, on June 9, 2025.

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Here's where things stand:

• Huerta appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Monday afternoon. He was released from custody on $50,000 bond. An arraignment is scheduled for July 7, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
  
• Huerta has been charged with conspiracy to impede an officer after showing up to a workplace where federal authorities were executing a warrant, according to a federal complaint.
  
• The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
  
• The union said Huerta was arrested while exercising his First Amendment right to document law enforcement. California politicians, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have denounced the arrest.
  
• U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff wrote a letter demanding the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice review the incident.
  
• More than 1,000 people showed up at a rally Monday in downtown L.A. to demand Huerta's release.
  

Why it matters

Huerta was held at Metropolitan Detention Center Los Angeles, the site of numerous protests on Saturday and Sunday in reaction to the immigration raids. He was injured during his arrest and treated at a hospital while in federal custody, according to SEIU.

"What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger," Huerta said in a statement. "This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening."

ICE agents detained dozens of people in the raids across L.A., prompting fear, anger and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups. Many of the protesters were peaceful, but there were also reports of people shooting fireworks at agents and officers.

A protester displays a poster as tear gas is used in the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.

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LAPD and California Highway Patrol officers showed up to move people away from the federal buildings and off the 101 Freeway near downtown on Sunday.

Some people were seen throwing objects at law enforcement and damaging property, including spray-painting and shattering windows at the downtown Civic Center and elsewhere. A group of Waymo autonomous taxis were vandalized and set on fire. There were also reports of law enforcement shooting people in the crowd with what's known as less lethal weapons, including rubber projectiles.

As of Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department said it had arrested 50 people in connection with the protests over the weekend. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it had made five arrests, and California Highway Patrol made 19 arrests.

Huerta speaks

After his release from custody, Huerta spoke to supporters and media outside the courthouse. Standing shoeless and carrying a pile of papers with notes from his detention, he thanked his family members, as well as his "labor family" for backing him.

Huerta said he thought the Trump administration would likely try to make an example out of his case.

" I'm prepared to take on that journey," he said. "But I won't face it alone because I know my family and my community is with me."

He spoke at length about many people he met while in custody, including a man who was brought to the U.S. when he was 2 weeks old and didn't know he was an unauthorized immigrant until he was "well into his adulthood." Huerta said the man told him he was stabbed after he was deported to Mexico the first time and is afraid to go back.

"He doesn't see Mexico as his home," Huerta said of the man. "This is the only home he's known since he was 2 weeks old."

He also stressed a need for non-violence as the protests against ICE continue.

Earlier in the day, speakers at the rally in support of Huerta talked about his support of janitors, many of them immigrant workers, in the state of California.

"He's been on the front line for justice for his entire life, fighting for justice and fighting for immigrants," said Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Huerta is president of SEIU California and United Service Workers West. SEIU California represents 750,000 workers in California.

Anton Farmby, vice president of SEIU, said Huerta had been a labor leader at the union for 29 years and had been pivotal in bringing Black and Brown communities together.

"Regardless of what happened with David, regardless of what's happening here today, we're going to continue to be the voice for working people and continue to speak out around things that not only impact the immigrant community but also for workers in the labor movement," Farmby said.

The context

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said she was aware of five recent ICE raids in the region, including two within the city of L.A. Local protests followed in downtown L.A. and the cities of Paramount and Compton.

Monday was the fourth day of the protests.

President Donald Trump has said during his campaign and after his election that he planned to use federal resources to carry out "mass deportations" of unauthorized immigrants across the U.S.

In Los Angeles, fear and tension has been high as residents and advocacy groups braced for possible ICE raids.

Friday appeared to be the first large-scale ICE operation in L.A. County, and it prompted a swift response from protesters.

Huerta was among them.

Tensions also spiked that day and over the weekend between state and local authorities and the Trump administration, particularly after the president activated 2,000 National Guard troops in L.A. despite objections from Newsom and Bass, who said the move was unnecessary and would only escalate the already tense situation.

Newsom on Sunday formally called for Trump to rescind the deployment. A day later, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state was filing a lawsuit against the administration over the deployment.

Bonta said at a news conference that Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ignored law enforcement's expertise and guidance, trampled over the state's sovereignty and unlawfully invoked a statute that's intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

"Trump and Hegseth jumped from zero to 60, bypassing law enforcement expertise and evaluation," Bonta said. "They threw caution to the wind and sidelined strategy in an unnecessary and inflammatory escalation that only further spurred unrest."

Bonta said California is seeking a declaration from the court that Trump "federalizing" the National Guard and deploying them in L.A. was unlawful and an injunction.

Bonta said this is the 24th lawsuit the state has filed against the Trump administration.

NPR confirmed Monday that 700 Marines were being sent in response to the protests in Los Angeles in a support role.

L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement that the arrival of the Marines, without coordination with local law enforcement, presents "significant" logistical and operational challenges.

“The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively," the statement read. "That said, our top priority is the safety of both the public and the officers on the ground.

"We are urging open and continuous lines of communication between all agencies to prevent confusion, avoid escalation, and ensure a coordinated, lawful, and orderly response during this critical time.”

Both McDonnell and Bass spoke at a news conference Monday evening. Bass said nothing warranted the raids, and that she believes Los Angeles is being used as a test case "for what happens when the federal government moves in and take the authority away from the state or away from local government."

How we're reporting on this

LAist reporters have been in scene where the protests and confrontations have taken place. Reporters Aaron Schrank and Libby Rainey were at a rally Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles where members of SEIU and others called for an end to the ICE raids and the release of Huerta.

The reporters also were in federal court for Huertas first appearance, and heard from Huerta and his attorneys after his release.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes and/or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

Learn more

• Protesters clash with law enforcement in downtown LA. Hundreds march against Trump's immigration sweeps
  
• Officials name 12 ICE arrestees; at least two appear to have been in custody before raids
  
• As ICE agents enter LA communities, here's what the law says about civil rights — regardless of immigration status

LAist reporter Vitas Larrieu contributed to this report.

On a tour of Orange County’s voting headquarters on Wednesday, Registrar Bob Page demonstrated the careful, multi-step process through which voters’ ballots are validated and counted.

As the federal government raises the specter of unsubstantiated voter fraud, Page’s message was clear: “ I want voters to know that we're doing everything we can to make sure they can vote safely and securely."

More than 380,000 Orange County ballots have been returned as of Oct. 27, Page said. That’s about 80,000 more ballots than was received around the same time in 2022, the last mid-term elections.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page addresses the media and other members of the public in attendance as part of a tour of the voting operations on Wednesday, less than one week before Election Day.

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The journey of a ballot in Orange County

Collecting, and counting, all those ballots takes time. Page explained that two-person teams are dispatched to collect dropped-off ballots every day during election season.

The ballot drop-off boxes in Orange County are made of steel, weigh more than 1,000 pounds and are bolted to the concrete, Page said.

The ballot retrieval duos are required to follow a strict process to ensure the chain of custody remains secure, including taking photos showing they’ve picked up the ballots, properly locked the retrieval door and that the internal fire suppression canister is intact.

The locations of the two-person teams are GPS-tracked by separate teams, which also review the photo evidence before giving the ballot retrieval duos the green light to go to their next stops.

An overhead camera shows the process that occurs after the signatures on a ballot have been verified and the ballot is then ready to be counted.

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Signature verification

Once a ballot reaches the Registrar of Voters’ office, the next step is ensuring the signature on the envelope matches the voter's signatures in their registration file.

“If we do challenge [a signature], we’re required under state law to send a first-class letter notice to that voter,” Page said, adding that state statute affords voters until the day before Thanksgiving this year to correct errant signatures.

Page said three election workers must agree that enough of a discrepancy exists before the decision to challenge a signature is made.

Around 1.9% of the nearly 718,000 vote-by-mail ballots returned in the June primary election in Orange County were rejected, largely due to signature mismatch or because they weren’t received in time, according to the California Secretary of State.

Verified ballots are then separated from their envelopes and sorted before they’re prepared to be scanned and, finally, counted. The equipment used to tally votes isn’t connected to the internet, and access to the room the equipment is housed in is limited, according to Page.

Threats from the federal government

On Wednesday evening, a federal judge denied an emergency request from the Department of Justice to segregate 20,000 ballots across California that the federal government said were sent to “likely” noncitizens.

More than 1,750 of those people identified were in Orange County, according to a letter Bill Essayli, top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, delivered to the county registrar’s office Monday.

The Department of Justice said it will appeal the ruling from U.S. District Court Judge David Carter, who, in his decision, said the federal government’s attempted move could “wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway.”

California Attorney Gen. Rob Bonta called the ruling an “important victory,” but warned “the fight is not over.”

On Wednesday, before the ruling came down, Bonta released resources about election integrity in the state, including guidance for local election officials if law enforcement attempts to “access election sites where ballots are cast, processed, or counted.”

Page said he’s fielded more questions from the public this year about the potential for law enforcement to interfere in the election. He said he will have open lines of communication with partners with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and  Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center should the threat arise.

What’s on your ballot?

Our LAist Voter Game Plan is here to help guide you through the Nov. 3 election with guides to races across Los Angeles and Orange counties — and that long list of state propositions — to help you cast a ballot that’s in line with your own personal beliefs and values.

But the one thing we don’t do? We don’t tell you how to vote. That part is left up to you.

You can find it all at LAist.com/Vote.

The U.S. Justice Department has issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration.

The Associated Press obtained copies of three subpoenas sent Oct. 21 to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election. The documents request any records, documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October by federal officials to state election officials outlining allegations of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. The subpoenas also seek information relating to the office’s “methods for screening for unlawful voting by aliens” and anything about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted.

The subpoenas were being issued by all four U.S. attorneys in California, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, said, “threats and intimidated have no place in elections.”

Subpoenas come amid ongoing court battle

The Trump administration has sued to force California to set aside up to 20,000 ballots it suspects went to noncitizens and not count them until citizenship can be verified. A district court judge on Tuesday rejected that request, then on Thursday appointed a special master to evaluate the administration’s claims.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter did not specify the exact scope of special master Daniel B. Garrie’s responsibilities, but said he would be tasked with “developing the factual record” for the court.

In a Tuesday court hearing, Carter said he wanted to vet the federal government’s list of over 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters since there has been extensive debate over its reliability and both sides have agreed that it includes an unspecified number of citizens.

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Carter also said at the hearing that a special master could investigate California’s claims that it cannot logistically separate the ballots in time for the county election certification deadline on Dec. 3. The federal government has contested that assertion.

It is not clear what would happen if a special master did find a substantial number of noncitizen voters on the federal government’s list or whether it would affect the certification of California’s election results. The 20,000 people on the DOJ’s list constitute only a small fraction of California’s 23 million voters.

Trump administration appeals to higher court

Meanwhile, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to quickly weigh in.

The Justice Department said in a late Wednesday filing that it’s essential the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issue a ruling as soon as possible due to “irreversible ballot processing occurring on an ongoing basis.”

Carter’s decision was the latest legal setback for President Donald Trump in his efforts to expand federal control over state-run elections in the midterms that will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term. The Justice Department has made similar demands in other states, including Washington. Noncitizen voting has been a central focus of Trump’s political messaging for years, although available data indicates it is exceedingly rare.

Trump blasted Carter’s ruling against the federal government on Thursday morning before heading to a campaign rally in South Carolina.

“California is very corrupt. The elections are extremely corrupt. The judge should not have done that but we’ll appeal that, of course,” he told reporters. Trump added without evidence that there are “hundreds of thousands” and then amended it to “millions, in my opinion” of “bad ballots” in California.

Carter, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, argued that the Justice Department’s demands were a clear violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits changes to voter rolls or election procedure within 90 days of an election.

A number of US citizens were included in the Justice Department’s list of names

Both sides agree that an unspecified number of citizens were inadvertently included. Carter argued that separating the ballots at this point would risk disenfranchising citizens and “wreak havoc” on the election certification process.

Over 500,000 votes have already been processed in Los Angeles County alone, according to court filings. The system also protects voter privacy: Once a vote is processed, it cannot be traced back to the person who cast it.

Carter is to rule on the government’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction, which would bar the state from counting the ballots until the litigation is resolved. He said he will do so after a Nov. 13 evidentiary hearing with input from the special master.

He said that if the federal government suspected noncitizens were voting, it could continue to prosecute those cases criminally. Federal authorities have charged over two dozen foreign nationals in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people officials allege have illegally registered or voted in U.S. elections.

Appeals panel judges have said they wouldn’t support setting aside ballots this close to midterms

The appeal will be the second time that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will consider the case.

The first time was just last week when the Justice Department argued before an appeals court panel that a fast ruling on its request was needed to stop any counting of the ballots.

Although the panel ruled it was premature for an appeals court to get involved before a lower-court ruling, two of the three judges wrote separate concurrences making it clear they wouldn’t support setting aside ballots at this late date. They questioned the accuracy of the federal government’s list of alleged noncitizen voters and argued that to set aside votes risks disenfranchising citizens.

One judge dissented, arguing that federal law bars noncitizens from voting and requires California to vet the potentially illegal ballots before counting them. The failure to do so, he wrote, would cause irreparable harm to the election.