Civil rights legend Dolores Huerta, 95, speaks at a rally in Los Angeles, Monday, June 9, 2025, calling for the release of labor union leader David Huerta, who was arrested during a protest on June 6. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Local demonstrators will gather in Medford on Monday night to protest the arrest of a California union leader who has been charged with conspiring to impede an officer during a demonstration over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The Associated Press reported that David Huerta, 58, is being held in federal custody in downtown Los Angeles and is expected to attend a bond hearing later Monday, federal prosecutors said.

Huerta is president of Service Employees International Union California, which represents thousands of janitors, security officers and other workers in the state.

The SEIU held a large rally in downtown Los Angeles Monday in support of Huerta and to stand up for his right to observe and document law enforcement activity, The AP reported. Union leaders from across the state led the crowd in chants of “Free Huerta now!”

Demonstrations were also planned in at least a dozen major U.S. cities, from Boston to Denver, the wire service wrote.

Medford’s protest is planned from 5:30 to 6 p.m. on Vogel Plaza in downtown Medford. It is being called an “emergency demonstration.”

“This is not just an attack on one man or one union,” a news release sent to the Rogue Valley Times said. ” It is an assault on the civil liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Detaining an American citizen for engaging in lawful protest and union advocacy undermines the First Amendment and threatens every American’s right to speak out, organize, and stand up to government overreach.”