Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed and pinned to the floor by federal law enforcement officers on Thursday after he interrupted a Los Angeles press conference of Kristi Noem, who was discussing the Trump administration’s response to the ongoing anti-ICE demonstrations.
“We are not going away,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem declared. “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”
At that point, Padilla — who had barged into the conference room as Noem spoke — tried to address the Homeland Security chief before he was accosted by Secret Service and FBI agents, who then held the California senator on the floor after rushing him away from the room.
“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary. Because the fact of the matter is, a half dozen... Hands off!” the lawmaker was heard shouting as he was swarmed by law enforcement.
Following his brief detainment by the FBI, the senator held a news conference and stated he was at the Wilshire Federal Building awaiting a scheduled briefing from federal officials as part of his “responsibility as a senator to provide oversight and accountability.”
Padilla asserted that while he was waiting for a separate briefing, he learned that Noem was holding a press conference just a few doors down the hall. Adding that he and his Democratic colleagues have been attempting to get answers from DHS on their “increasingly extreme” immigration actions, Noem had given little to no information in recent weeks, prompting him to attend her presser.
“I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information,” he continued. “I was there peacefully. At one point, I had a question and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.”
While urging more “peaceful protests” across the country against the administration’s immigration enforcement actions, he wrapped up his remarks by suggesting that his incident was a warning shot.
“If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they‘re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla said. “We will hold this administration accountable. “
Meanwhile, a Homeland Security spokesperson accused Padilla of “lunging” at Noem without identifying himself, though video footage captures the senator saying his name and title at least twice.
“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Independent.
“Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” she added. “U.S. Secret Service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
After the incident, Noem spoke with Padilla during a 15-minute meeting, according to her office.
In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for the FBI said Padilla “was detained by members of the U.S. Secret Service assigned to Secretary Noem’s detail when he became disruptive while formal remarks were being delivered.”
The FBI similarly accused Padilla of not identifying himself despite footage that shows him announcing his name to the secretary.
Speaking to the press after her meeting with Padilla, Noem said she had a “great conversation” with the senator about Homeland Security’s activities and operations in Los Angeles, insisting it was “very productive.”
But she also reiterated her office’s claim that he didn’t identify himself and attempted to “lunge” at her.
“I’ll let the law enforcement speak to how this situation was handled,” she stated. “But I will say that people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at people during press conferences.”
Based on footage that was shared on social media from reporters on the scene, after being forcefully pushed out of the conference room into an adjacent hallway, Padilla was handcuffed and restrained face down on the floor by several FBI agents.
Padilla was “exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” his office said in a statement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is currently suing the administration for federally mobilizing the National Guard in response to the protests, also immediately condemned the treatment of Padilla during the press conference.
“[Padilla] is one of the most decent people I know. This is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful,” he tweeted. “Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the incident “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous,” noting that Padilla is a sitting United States senator. “This administration’s violent attacks on our city must end,” she added.
California’s other senator, Democrat Adam Schiff, said his colleague represented “the best of the Senate” before denouncing the actions against Padilla.
“The disgraceful and disrespectful conduct of DHS agents, pushing and shoving him out of a briefing like that, demands our condemnation,” he said. “He will not be silenced or intimidated. His questions will be answered. I’m with Alex.”
Schiff told reporters on Capitol Hill that he wants an investigation into the incident — a call that was echoed by other Democratic lawmakers.
In a brief, furious statement on the Senate floor, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said footage of the incident “sickened my stomach.”
Later, he called the incident “despicable, disgusting” and “so un-American.”
“Reeks of totalitarianism,” he said. “We need a full investigation, immediately, as to what happened, and who did what, and what’s going to be done to see that this does not happen again.”
“This is unacceptable, full stop,” the Congressional Hispanic Caucus added in another statement. “[Padilla] attended an open press conference to engage in debate, to represent his state, to do his job. We demand a full investigation and consequences for every official involved in this assault against a sitting US senator.”
“We need to subpoena Kristi Noem!” Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost declared in a House Oversight hearing featuring testimony from three Democratic governors about immigration policy.
Republicans, meanwhile, appeared to be looking to escalate the situation by calling for sanctions against Padilla.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the senator engaged in “wildly inappropriate behavior” before urging the upper chamber to take action against him.
“I do think that it merits immediate attention by their colleagues over there,” he said. “I think that behavior, at a minimum, rises to the level of a censure. ... I think there needs to be a message sent by the body as a whole that that is not what we are going to do. That’s not how we’re going to act.”
The arrest follows resistance from thousands of Americans against the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda, with immigration raids and arrests in the Los Angeles area sparking nationwide protests against enforcement efforts ripping families and communities apart.
Noem has also revoked humanitarian protections for roughly 1 million people with temporary legal status after fleeing disaster and violence in nations like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Immigration judges have also been instructed to drop cases for hundreds of other immigrants, making potentially millions of people vulnerable to arrest and swift removal from the country. Noem has deployed masked agents to make arrests in and outside courthouses moments after those hearings end.
White House policy chief Stephen Miller, the architect of the president’s anti-immigration platform, has put pressure on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to arrest 3,000 people a day. He reportedly told officials last month to “just go out there and arrest illegal aliens.”
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