Washington and New York. Protests against the repression and anti-immigrant raids ordered by Donald Trump multiplied in various parts of the United States, demanding the release of those arrested, including a union leader, and the withdrawal of immigration agents in Los Angeles and other cities with large migrant communities.
“We want David Huerta free, and we want the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids to stop now,” said Jaime Contreras, the leader of the Service Employees Union (SEIU) in the Washington, D.C., region. The violent arrest and subsequent hospitalization of SEIU California State President David Huerta in Los Angeles last Friday as he observed protests against the ICE raids has prompted a growing response from national unions and community groups, expressed in more than 30 protest events across the country on Monday.
Chants of"Free David now" and "Stop the ICE raids," along with some in Spanish such as "The people united will never be defeated" and "Enough is enough," were heard outside the Department of Justice headquarters in the capital.
“Our country suffers when workers who come here to contribute to our economy and our communities are attacked simply for trying to build a better life for their families,” said Liz Shuler, president of the national AFL-CIO, a union representing some 15 million workers. “We leave no one behind. We will be here… until our brother David is released, until these ICE raids that are doing nothing but tearing our communities apart end.”
Although initial reactions to the raids and repression were led by immigrants, Contreras, an immigrant from El Salvador, noted that “it's not just about migrant communities; we're all under attack by this president.” That message was echoed by other union leaders who appeared at the rally in Washington, representing a wide range of workers. Speakers included national leaders of the two teachers unions—each representing more than 2 million members—leaders of the public sector workers union, representing another 2 million, and several powerful community groups in this region.
In Los Angeles—where a fourth day of protests against anti-immigrant raids and now the deployment of National Guard troops took place—labor and civil rights leaders led a rally of thousands downtown demanding Huerta's release and denouncing Trump's anti-immigrant crackdown in their city.
Also in Boston, protesters waved American flags, and speakers warned of the dangers of Donald Trump's agenda for the economy, for all workers, immigrants and non-immigrants, and for the Constitution itself. In Chicago, hundreds of protesters gathered outside federal offices at a rally led by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights."Forcibly separating parents from their children, kidnapping people, the National Guard patrolling our communities as if we were the aggressors. This is a war for our dignity, and dignity is non-negotiable," declared Representative Jesús Chuy García.
In New York, at a rally outside City Hall—whose Democratic occupant owes Trump for pardoning him on corruption charges—hundreds of SEIU members and their allies, carrying signs declaring that “immigrants are essential,” listened to city union leaders denounce Huerta’s arrest in Los Angeles. “They picked the wrong union, now they’ll find out who they messed with,” declared a union organizer. The leader of the city’s labor union, made up of 300 unions with a total of one million members, asserted—like the other speakers—that the attack on immigrants is an attack on all of us. Other speakers reiterated that “we will not remain silent” in the face of Trump’s offensive. “From Los Angeles to New York, we will protect immigrants because they are the backbone of our country,” affirmed Adrienne Adams, the president of the New York City Council.
Representatives from the Communications Union, the Auto Union, the long-standing Jewish labor organization (Workers Circle), and the New York Immigrant Coalition, among others, pledged to fight Trump's anti-immigrant and anti-worker agenda.
SEIU National President April Verrett, a union whose ranks are largely immigrants, declared that her union protects the rights and dignity of working people, as well as workplace safety. “Imagine what it feels like for thousands of workers around the country to be attacked by masked men with guns, or to witness their coworkers being dragged away, knowing their children may never see them again.”
Huerta was finally released in Los Angeles this afternoon on $50,000 bail. He is accused of “conspiring to interfere with an officer during a demonstration,” a felony that carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison if convicted at trial.
