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 reveals 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 improve operations to “liberate” town from its “socialist” management.
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” he shouted in a halting voice.
Struggling with officers outdoors the room, he might be heard bellowing, “Hands 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 fast outrage from his Democratic colleagues. Photographs 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 stated what he noticed “sickened my stomach.”
“We need immediate answers to what the hell went on,” the New York senator stated from the Senate ground. “It’s despicable, it’s disgusting, it’s so un-American.”
In a press release, DHS stated that Padilla “chose 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 told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” the assertion stated, 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 heart in New Jersey whereas Newark’s mayor was being arrested after he tried to hitch 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 stress 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 under assault before our eyes.”
Rising afterward, Padilla stated he was eliminated whereas demanding solutions concerning the Trump administration’s “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions.” He stated he and his colleagues had acquired little to no response to their questions in current weeks, so he attended the briefing for extra data.
“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … I can only imagine what they are doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community, and throughout California and throughout the country,” he stated.
Noem informed Fox LA afterward that she had a “great” dialog with Padilla after the scuffle, however referred to as his method “something that I don’t think was appropriate at all.”
The White Home accused Padilla of grandstanding.
“Padilla didn’t want answers; he wanted attention,” White Home spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated. “It’s telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law 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 submit, he stated of current federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, “Trump isn’t targeting criminals in his mass deportation agenda, he is terrorizing communities, breaking apart families and putting American citizens in harm’s way.”
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 vice chairman. On the time, Padilla was the state’s chief elections officer.
Harris wrote in a social media submit Thursday that Padilla “was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this administration’s actions in Southern California.” She referred to as his forceful removing “a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”
Democratic senators shortly gathered within the chamber, denouncing the remedy of their colleague — a popular and revered senator — and urged Individuals to know what was occurring.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., stated Trump is making this nation “look more and more like a fascist state.”
“Will any Republican senator speak 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 remedy 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 conduct “rises to the level of a censure.”
“My view is it was wildly inappropriate,” Johnson, a Trump ally, informed reporters outdoors the Home chamber as Democrats strolling previous shouted over him, “That’s a lie!”
“A sitting member of Congress should not act like that,” Johnson stated, loudly talking over reporters’ questions. “It’s beneath a member of Congress. It’s beneath the U.S. senator.”
Senate Republican chief John Thune stated he has spoken to Padilla and is attempting to achieve Noem however hasn’t but related together with her.
“We want to get the full scope of what happened and do what we would do in any incident like this involving a senator and try to gather all the relevant information,” the South Dakota senator stated.
The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, stated 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 government 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 remedy 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 stated what occurred to Padilla “was un-American” and people concerned should be held accountable.
“This is not going to end until there is accountability and until the Trump administration changes its behavior,” he stated.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
