Senator Alex Padilla has been physically removed from DHS press conference
Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla was kicked out and handcuffed at a Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles.
WASHINGTON – The rage radiated from Congressional Democrats is clear.
After California Sen. Alex Padilla was forced to remove him from a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem, House Democrats roamed the Capitol in search of an audience with GOP leadership. Meanwhile, their Senate counterparts gave floor speeches followed by floor speeches, denounced their actions as “power abuse” and “attack.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson called Padilla’s actions “roughly inappropriate” and insisted he was rushed to his secretary. House Democrats cried out to him, “That’s a lie!”
Padilla suspended the press briefing gnome held in Los Angeles on June 12 amid protests over President Donald Trump’s city migrant raid. Some of these protests have become violent, with demonstrators burning cars and throwing things in law enforcement. Trump sent the National Guard without the consent of government Gavin Newsom, urging further outrage from Democrats.
“We won’t leave. We’re staying here to free this city from the burdensome leadership that the socialists and this governor and mayor put in this country,” Noem said, saying Padilla “want to know why you argue – I want to know Madame Secretary.”
Padilla was pushed into the ground and handcuffed outside the room.
“Anyone who watches that video will understand that this is an attack, a felony,” said Rep. Adriano Espirato of D-New York, who is chairman of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress. “The White House is indifferent and out of control.”
Espaillat and more than a dozen other Democrats turned their backs from Johnson’s office as they tried to enter Thune’s office, where they were meeting the White House.
“They said they were busy, he couldn’t meet dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and hid behind the door there,” said D-California Rep. Nanette Barragan. “That’s a dishonorable thing.”
On the other side of the Capitol, a series of democratic senators gave floor speeches hammering the episode’s insult.
“I saw this happen to my colleagues. I was shocked at how far it has come down in the first 140 days of this administration… What will happen to our democracy? Are there any restrictions on what this administration does?” New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim said on the Senate floor.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray said on the Senator’s floor that lawmakers on either side of the aisle were not calling the situation “outrageous.”
Republicans largely defended the actions taken by federal law enforcement representatives.
“What should they have done? They have to restrain those engaged in such behavior. “It’s under the members of Congress. It’s under the senators. They should be leading by example, and that’s not a good example.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Padilla “shamed me and his constituents in this immature theatre kid stunt.”
“Democrats say they’re rilling more about Padilla than about violent riots and attacks against law enforcement in Los Angeles,” she added.
Trump sent 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to suppress the protests.
Padilla said at a press conference after the incident that she wanted more information from the NOEM on the Trump administration’s “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement measures.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, Noem met with Padilla for 15 minutes after that.
He added that he has not been arrested or detained. But he said, “If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to senators with questions, then all I can do is imagine what they are doing to farm workers, chefs, the Los Angeles community, California as well as to daytime workers all over the country.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, wrote to X that Padilla was “told repeatedly to step back and failed to comply with the officer’s repeated orders.”
Contributors: Joey Garrison and Deborah Berry, USA Today
