Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday was forcefully faraway from Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem’s information convention in Los Angeles and handcuffed by officers as he tried to talk up about immigration raids which have led to protests in California and across the nation.
Video exhibits a Secret Service agent on Noem’s safety element grabbing the California senator by his jacket and shoving him from the room as he tried to talk up through the DHS secretary’s occasion. Padilla interrupted the information convention after Noem delivered a very pointed line, saying federal authorities weren’t going away however deliberate to remain and enhance operations to “liberate” town from its “socialist” management.
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I’ve questions for the secretary,” he shouted in a halting voice.
Struggling with officers outdoors the room, he will be heard bellowing, “Arms off!” He’s later seen on his knees after which pushed to the bottom and handcuffed in a hallway, with a number of officers atop him.
🚨 #BREAKING @SenAlexPadilla tries to interrupt a press convention by @DHSgov Sec @KristiNoem and he’s forcibly eliminated.
California’s senior U.S. Senator was handcuffed and detained.
Video from @AlexPadilla4CA’s employees 🚨 pic.twitter.com/PXfszkBXxo— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) June 12, 2025
The stunning scene of a U.S. senator being aggressively faraway from a Cupboard secretary’s information convention prompted instant outrage from his Democratic colleagues. Pictures and video of the scuffle ricocheted by the halls of Congress, the place shocked Democrats demanded a right away investigation and characterised the episode as one other in a line of mounting threats to democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Senate Democratic chief Chuck Schumer mentioned what he noticed “sickened my abdomen.”
“We’d like instant solutions to what the hell went on,” the New York senator mentioned from the Senate ground. “It’s despicable, it’s disgusting, it’s so un-American.”
In a press release, DHS mentioned that Padilla “selected disrespectful political theater” and that Secret Service “thought he was an attacker.” The assertion claimed erroneously that Padilla didn’t determine himself — he did, as he was being pushed from the room.
“Padilla was instructed repeatedly to again away and didn’t adjust to officers’ repeated instructions,” the assertion mentioned, including that “officers acted appropriately.”
The fracas in Los Angeles got here simply days after Democratic U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted on federal prices alleging she assaulted and interfered with immigration officers outdoors a detention middle in New Jersey whereas Newark’s mayor was being arrested after he tried to affix a congressional oversight go to on the facility. Democrats have framed the fees as intimidation efforts by the Trump administration.
It additionally follows days of rising rigidity between Trump and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the federal army intervention in California. In a speech earlier this week, the governor warned that “democracy is beneath assault earlier than our eyes.”
Rising afterward, Padilla mentioned he was eliminated whereas demanding solutions in regards to the Trump administration’s “more and more excessive immigration enforcement actions.” He mentioned he and his colleagues had acquired little to no response to their questions in current weeks, so he attended the briefing for extra info.
“If that is how this administration responds to a senator with a query … I can solely think about what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers all through the Los Angeles neighborhood, and all through California and all through the nation,” he mentioned.
Noem instructed Fox LA afterward that she had a “nice” dialog with Padilla after the scuffle, however referred to as his strategy “one thing that I don’t assume was applicable in any respect.”
The White Home accused Padilla of grandstanding.
“Padilla didn’t need solutions; he needed consideration,” White Home spokeswoman Abigail Jackson mentioned. “It’s telling that Democrats are extra riled up about Padilla than they’re in regards to the violent riots and assaults on regulation enforcement in LA.”
Padilla, the son of immigrants from Mexico, has been a harsh Trump critic and his mass deportations agenda. In a social media publish, he mentioned of current federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, “Trump isn’t focusing on criminals in his mass deportation agenda, he’s terrorizing communities, breaking up households and placing Americans in hurt’s method.”
Padilla in 2021 turned the state’s first Latino U.S. senator when he was chosen by Newsom to fill Kamala Harris’ Senate seat after she was elected vp. On the time, Padilla was the state’s chief elections officer.
Harris wrote in a social media publish Thursday that Padilla “was representing the tens of millions of Californians who’re demanding solutions to this administration’s actions in Southern California.” She referred to as his forceful elimination “a shameful and beautiful abuse of energy.”
Democratic senators shortly gathered within the chamber, denouncing the therapy of their colleague — a popular and revered senator — and urged Individuals to grasp what was occurring.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., mentioned Trump is making this nation “look increasingly more like a fascist state.”
“Will any Republican senator converse up for our democracy?” Warren pleaded.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., referred to as on Noem to resign, saying that there was no justification for Padilla’s therapy and that the Trump administration wanted to be held accountable.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused Padilla of “charging” Noem and indicated that the habits “rises to the extent of a censure.”
“My view is it was wildly inappropriate,” Johnson, a Trump ally, instructed reporters outdoors the Home chamber as Democrats strolling previous shouted over him, “That’s a lie!”
“A sitting member of Congress shouldn’t act like that,” Johnson mentioned, loudly talking over reporters’ questions. “It’s beneath a member of Congress. It’s beneath the U.S. senator.”
Senate Republican chief John Thune mentioned he has spoken to Padilla and is making an attempt to achieve Noem however hasn’t but related along with her.
“We need to get the complete scope of what occurred and do what we’d do in any incident like this involving a senator and attempt to collect all of the related info,” the South Dakota senator mentioned.
The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, mentioned that he was unaware of what occurred however that Padilla ought to have been at work in Washington.
The stark incident comes as Congress faces growing episodes of encroachment on its authority. As a coequal department of the U.S. authorities, the Trump administration is exerting its govt powers in untested methods.
As a part of their work in Congress, lawmakers are answerable for offering oversight of the administration, its businesses and actions.
A number of senators and representatives have been exercising their oversight roles by surveying the therapy of immigrants and others being detained as a part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation.
From the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned what occurred to Padilla “was un-American” and people concerned should be held accountable.
“This isn’t going to finish till there’s accountability and till the Trump administration modifications its habits,” he mentioned.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com