U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was manhandled and handcuffed after he interrupted a press convention by Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem on the immigration protests in Los Angeles.
The senior senator from the nation’s largest state was grabbed by Secret Service brokers and bundled out of a gathering room in a federal workplace constructing after he tried to ask Noem questions. Padilla was wrestled to the bottom and handcuffed, however was not formally detained.
“He tried to ask the secretary a question and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed,” Padilla’s workplace stated in a press release.
“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, cooks, laborers throughout L.A., throughout California, and throughout this country,” Padilla later informed a press convention.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., is pushed out of the room as Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem holds a information convention concerning the current protests in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Picture/Etienne Laurent)
A Homeland Safety spokeswoman stated brokers didn’t know who Padilla was and thought he may very well be making an attempt to assault Noem.
“Padilla did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” Tricia McLaughlin posted on X. “Secret Service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
McLaughlin stated Noem met with Padilla for quarter-hour after the confrontation.
The showdown with certainly one of California’s most outstanding political leaders raised the temperature over President Trump’s crackdown and the protests that erupted in Los Angeles and have since unfold to different cities together with New York Metropolis.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., speaks throughout a listening to of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Picture/Mark Schiefelbein)
“Watching this video sickened my stomach,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated. “We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.”
Initially Revealed: June 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM EDT
