Senator Pushed, Cuffed, Forced to Floor During Noem Presser in Los Angeles

WASHINGTON — Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, before being cuffed and ultimately forced to the ground as he tried to speak on the immigration raids that have led to protests across the country.

In a video that quickly spread on social media, a Secret Service agent on Noem’s security detail can clearly be seen grabbing Padilla by his jacket and shoving him from the room.

“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla,” the senator says as he is being propelled backwards. “I have questions for the secretary.”

Later, cellphone video and photos showed Padilla chest down on the ground and surrounded by security officers.

In a statement issued immediately after the incident, the Department of Homeland Security said Padilla “chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live news conference.”

The department also initially tried to claim that the senator had not identified himself.

“Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” the statement said, adding that “officers acted appropriately.”

But that did nothing to quell concern about what the images showed, and sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and beyond.

“The brazen and aggressive manhandling of Sen. Padilla by the Trump administration is a sickening disgrace,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Thursday afternoon.

“Sen. Alex Padilla is a good man and principled public servant. … Anyone who assaulted the senator should be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Jeffries added.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, was equally shocked, saying watching the manhandling of a U.S. senator on video “sickened my stomach.”

“We need immediate answers to what the hell went on,” he said.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris called the roughing up of the senator a “shameful and stunning abuse of power.”

“U.S Sen. Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this administration’s actions in Southern California,” she wrote in a post on X.

Noem later went on Fox News to explain that Padilla “acted completely inappropriately” and accused him of lunging toward the podium after he was asked to stop interrupting her comments.

“It wasn’t becoming of a U.S. senator,” Noem said.

The Homeland Security secretary also emphasized that Padilla was not arrested and said that law enforcement officers stopped placing handcuffs on the senator after they were made aware of who he was.

Back here in Washington, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., also placed the blame for the incident on Padilla, telling reporters, “The fact that he’s in California and not in D.C. while the Senate’s voting means he’s not as concerned about doing his job.”

The incident illustrated just how high tensions have risen as communities across the nation brace for large scale protests of the administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement actions.

It also came just hours before the state of California was set to square off against the Trump administration in federal court over its immigration enforcement efforts.

National Guard troops have accompanied federal agents on immigration enforcement raids over the objections of state officials, and about 700 U.S. Marines are now in position at a base south of the city, waiting to potentially join the effort.

California is challenging the Trump administration’s use of the military to support officers conducting immigration raids in Los Angeles, and requesting that the court issue an order limiting the troops to protecting federal buildings. 

The Justice Department will argue that California’s real objective is to restrict the president’s power when it comes to enforcing immigration law.

Meanwhile, reaction to the Padilla incident continues to flow in.

Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., the former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, expressed concern about the message it sends to others with less lofty titles.

“If this is how they treat someone with a title and a national platform, imagine how undocumented members of our communities — without cameras or microphones — are being treated when no one is watching,” Barragán said in a written statement. 

“This is not just an abuse of power; it is a reflection of an administration increasingly comfortable with authoritarian tactics,” she added.

“Today it’s Sen. Padilla, and you know what, tomorrow it can be any one of us,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., said in remarks on the floor of the Senate chamber.

“These people must be held to account for what happened to Sen. Padilla today,” she said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the incident “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous.” 

“He is a sitting U.S. senator,” she said with an air of disbelief. “[The Trump] administration’s violent attacks on our city must end.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue