Senator Padilla Forcibly Removed and Handcuffed for Asking a Question in Noem’s Press Conference

After trying to ask a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a press conference about federal actions in Los Angeles, Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) was forcibly removed, pushed to the floor and handcuffed.

Padilla was awaiting a scheduled briefing from the military officials when he found out about Noem’s press briefing in the same building and went to it. He is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship, and border safety, which is responsible for “oversight of federal agencies with citizenship, asylum, refugee, and immigration enforcement responsibilities.”

In the press conference, Noem said, “We are not going away. 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.”

Video shows that Padilla said, “I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.” Several men in plainclothes immediately shoved him out of the room. Then he was forced to the floor and handcuffed by agents with Federal Bureau of Investigation markings. Secret Service agents were also involved, questioning him after he was taken. Technically, he was not arrested and not listed as detained.

Padilla said agents refused to identify themselves or tell him where they were taking him.

Noem’s insistence that the federal executive branch will remove elected officials and the way Padilla was not only silenced but manhandled alarmed experts in authoritarianism. Noted historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote about Noem’s threat to remove elected officials:

In other words, the Trump administration is vowing to get rid of the democratically elected government of California by using military force. That threat is the definition of a coup. It suggests MAGA considers any political victory but their own to be illegitimate and considers themselves justified in removing those governmental officials with violence: a continuation of the attempt of January 6, 2021, to overturn the results of a presidential election.

On Fox News later, Noem falsely claimed Padilla did not identify himself. Her department falsely claimed Padilla “chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live news conference” and “lunged” toward the secretary. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Padilla had charged at Noem and censure by the Senate for “wildly inappropriate” behavior. None of those claims about Padilla’s behavior comports with video of the incident

For the most part, Democratic office holders decried the incident. Republicans and a former Secret Service agent declared the handling of Padilla justified. The main exception was Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who predictably declared video of the incident “very disturbing” but would not go any farther than that.

After he was released, Padilla said, “If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, 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.”

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