California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla grew emotional as he took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to speak about being physically dragged out of a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
During the press conference last week, Noem said, “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.”
“When I heard something so blatantly un-American from the Secretary of Homeland Security, a cabinet official, of course, I was compelled, both as a senator and as an American, to speak up, but before I could even get out my question, I was physically and aggressively forced out of the room,” said Padilla on Tuesday.
“I repeatedly announced I was a United States senator, and I had a question for the secretary, and even as the National Guardsmen and the FBI agent who served as my escorts and brought me into that press briefing room stood by silently, knowing full well who I was,” he added.
Padilla said he was “pushed and pulled” and that he “struggled to maintain” his balance.
“I was forced to the ground first, on my knees and then flat on my chest,” he added, noting that he was handcuffed and “marched down a hallway” as he asked why he was being detained.
“Not once did they tell me why,” said Padilla.
“I pray you never have a moment like this,” he told his fellow senators. As he concluded his remarks, applause broke out.
Padilla said many questions came to him as he was being arrested.
“First of all, where are they taking me? Because I know I'm not just being escorted out of the building. Am I being arrested here?” said the senator. “And what will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their United States senator being handcuffed just for trying to ask a question? And what will my wife think? What will our boys think?”
Padilla blasted Noem for calling for Los Angeles to be “liberated” from its political leadership.
“That is not a mission focused on public safety, and that simply is not and cannot be the mission of federal law enforcement and the United States military,” he said on the Senate floor.
“Are we truly prepared to live in a country where the president can deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors and mayors should be allowed to lead their constituents? Is that really the precedent that we're okay with setting?” he asked.
He noted that last year, Noem said it would be a “direct attack” on states’ rights if then-President Joe Biden federalized the National Guard, as President Donald Trump has done in California.
Some Democrats have called for Noem to resign in the wake of Padilla’s brief arrest, which took place after Trump deployed the National Guard and the Marines to California without the consent of Governor Gavin Newsom. That deployment came after protests against raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Padilla said Trump “will tell you that this is just about undocumented immigrants, about law and order, and about targeting dangerous, violent criminals.”
“If it was just about targeting dangerous, violent criminals, there would be no disagreement,” he added. “There would be no debate. But we know differently.”
“Public data released by the administration shows that the majority of immigrants currently in ICE custody have no prior criminal conviction, and new reporting shows that less than 10 percent of immigrants taken into ICE custody since October have no serious criminal convictions,” he added.
