<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles downgraded a charge against David Huerta, the labor leader who was arrested during an immigration raid this summer, to a misdemeanor from a felony. The arrest had helped <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/us/los-angeles-protests-buildup.html" title="">touch off a wave of protests</a> against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Huerta, the California president of the Service Employees International Union, faces one misdemeanor count of obstruction of a federal officer, which has a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Prosecutors claim that Mr. Huerta impeded federal agents by walking across a driveway and trying to block a car as heavily armed officers conducted an immigration raid on a clothing wholesaler near downtown Los Angeles on June 6.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Huerta was arrested that day and initially charged with conspiring to impede an officer — a felony offense that holds a sentence of up to six years in federal prison. <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/us/david-huerta-union-leader-la-protest-court.html" title="">He was released</a> after about three days in federal custody on a $50,000 bond.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">A spokesman for Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, declined to comment on Mr. Huerta’s charge or respond to a question about why the charge was downgraded.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">After Mr. Huerta was arrested, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/1931156650968088931" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Mr. Essayli said on X</a> that he would arrest and prosecute anyone accused of impeding federal agents. “I don’t care who you are,” he wrote.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Huerta and his supporters have described the accusation as a baseless attempt to intimidate those who speak out against President Trump.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">“I am being targeted for exercising my constitutional rights for standing up against an administration that has declared open war on working families, immigrants and basic human dignity,” Mr. Huerta said in a statement on Friday. “If the goal was to instill fear, it has failed.”</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">On June 6, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/us/david-huerta-labor-leader-los-angeles.html" title="">Mr. Huerta</a>, a longtime labor and immigrant rights advocate, went to the site of the raid at Ambiance Apparel, a business in a warehouse district, to join a group of demonstrators. In court documents, federal officials said Mr. Huerta and others yelled at agents and encouraged protesters to walk in a circle and block a driveway.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">At one point, Mr. Huerta stood in the path of a white law enforcement van, and an agent “put his hands” on him, according to federal officials. An agent said in court documents that he saw Mr. Huerta push back.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-3"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-2"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Then Mr. Huerta was pushed to the ground and handcuffed, according to video that was widely circulated on social media. Footage showed Mr. Huerta’s head on a curb, surrounded by federal agents. He was briefly hospitalized with a head injury.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Immediately after his release, Mr. Huerta told his supporters he expected the government to try to make an example of him. His arrest prompted swift outrage among local and state elected officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom; Mayor Karen Bass, who visited Mr. Huerta in the hospital; and Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, who attended Mr. Huerta’s first court appearance.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">In recent months, federal officials have made an aggressive push to punish anyone they say seeks to interfere with immigration enforcement, including high-profile immigrant rights leaders and elected officials.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Days after Mr. Huerta was arrested, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/us/politics/senator-alex-padilla-handcuffed.html" title="">Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, was forcibly removed</a> from a news conference after he tried to question Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary. He was shoved to the ground and handcuffed.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">In New Jersey, Representative LaMonica McIver was indicted and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/nyregion/ras-baraka-newark-ice-trespassing.html" title="">Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark was arrested</a> after the officials, both Democrats, tried to visit a new immigration detention facility in May.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-5"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-3"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">This month, as federal officials have conducted <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/13/nx-s1-5566785/ice-dhs-immigration-tactics-more-violent" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">sweeping raids in the Chicago</a> area, agents have detained journalists and protesters who federal officials say have engaged in vandalism and have “blocked all means of ingress and egress” at an immigration detention facility.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">While Trump administration officials say that federal agents are executing the will of the people in their immigration enforcement efforts, free speech legal advocates, immigrant rights leaders and Democratic elected officials have said that the moves are part of a broad, authoritarian campaign to silence dissent.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div>