Pittsburgh unions rally against immigration crackdown after protests in Los Angeles

Several Pittsburgh union organizations gathered in Downtown Pittsburgh on Monday to protest the arrest of Service Employees International Union California leader David Huerta and the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

SEIU Local 32BJ, along with 1Hood Media and nonprofit Casa San Jose, organized Monday’s mid-afternoon protest. Organizers said it reflected the melded relationship between immigrants and union workers. About 150 people showed up to the William S. Moorhead Federal Building on Liberty Avenue.

“Immigrants and unions have always had a strong sort of bond,” said Jamie Martinez, 23, from Casa San Jose.

As for federal immigration authorities, Martinez said, “They’re showing up to work sites and they’re abducting people. And that’s an issue to us all. It’s an issue to our union brothers and sisters, and also to the immigrant community.”

The protest was organized in response to ongoing tensions since the weekend in Los Angeles, after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in response to immigration protests. Sunday morning, officers greeted protesters with smoke-filled canisters and rounds of crowd-control munitions aimed into the groups of protesters.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote a letter to Trump Sunday afternoon asking for guard members to be removed, as reported by The Associated Press.

Trump said Sunday that there were “violent people” in Los Angeles “and they’re not going to get away with it.” He said he had authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members.

Trump did not attempt to mobilize any guardsmen for the Pittsburgh rally or related events in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, according to Pennsylvania National Guard spokesman Wayne Hall.

“Pennsylvania National Guard activations for domestic operations within the commonwealth have always been done with the consent of the governor,” Hall said, noting that Gov. Josh Shapiro also did not request the help of the National Guard at the events being held Monday across the state.

Hall said the Pennsylvania National Guard is “trained to ensure people’s right to peacefully assemble as guaranteed under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“In times of widespread unrest of natural disasters, the governor of Pennsylvania can declare a disaster emergency. … In such cases, the Pennsylvania National Guard typically supports local EMS, providing assistance with crowd control, security, recovery and other tasks,” Hall said.

Pittsburgh Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, and Mayor Ed Gainey stood alongside union members for the rally.

“I believe that what’s going on with ICE is … not used as a safety mechanism. They’re actually used as a tool to be able to separate and conquer,” Gainey said to TribLive. “There’s nothing safe about that.”

Just two days prior, Huerta was injured and detained by federal agents during a series of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids downtown.

Labor Council for Latin American advancement member Guillermo Perez, of the Hill District, said SEIU Local 32BJ is a majority immigrant union.

“The arrest of David Huerta is a major threat to a highly important influential union, and he held a very high title in California. So this is a major assault on unions and their capacity to advocate for their members, and specifically immigrant members,” said Perez, 62, a United Steelworkers retiree.

Along with members of United Steelworkers, who held signs and loudly made their presence known, the crowd was also made up of union members from Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 9 and organizations such as the Socialist Alternative Pittsburgh.

Protesters held signs of Huerta’s face with the caption “Free David Huerta. Stop ICE raids now,” waved American flags and shouted several chants including “We don’t want no ICE around.”

Cas Borowitz, 22, of Squirrel Hill, is a staff organizer for Pittsburgh Starbucks Workers United. She said it is important to empower workers.

“I think Pittsburgh being so union dense, it shows that we have a bunch of workers and a bunch of people who believe in solidarity and believe in collective action, who are willing to go to the streets and put that collective action,” Borowitz said.

The rally came to a close shortly before 3 p.m. Emilio Cano, 33, a field representative for SEIU who helped organize the protest, said he was happy with the turnout and the opportunity to make their voices heard.

“David was not doing anything different than what we were doing out here today, peacefully demonstrating and exercising our first right, our First Amendment rights. It can be a little bit scary, but being in the union, we are not strangers to any scary fights,” Cano said.

Tom Fontaine, director of politics and editorial standards at TribLive, contributed.