California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly escorted out of a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday and briefly taken into custody, after attempting to pose a question to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem was in the city addressing public concerns related to protests against President Trump’s immigration policies, particularly those involving ICE operations in Southern California.
Padilla said to Noem, “I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” which prompted several men to physically push him out of the room;nit was unclear who the men were as several were dressed in plainclothes. Footage released by Padilla’s office and shared with NBC News shows the senator being pushed into a hallway, where he was forced to the ground by individuals wearing FBI-marked vests. He was then handcuffed as agents instructed him to place his hands behind his back.
Before the interruption, Noem was discussing increasing immigration operations in the area and claimed that Homeland Security agents were staying to “liberate the city socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country.” When asked by a reporter about the incident, Nom clarified that she does not know the senator and that he did not request a meeting with her: “when I leave here, I’ll have a conversation with him and find out really what his concerns were,” Noem said. “I think everyone in America would agree that wasn’t appropriate.”
According to a statement from Padilla’s team, the senator was in Los Angeles conducting official congressional oversight of federal activity in the region. They confirmed he is no longer in custody, with his office stating: “he was in the federal building to receive a briefing with [Air Force] General [Gregory] Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference. He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., denounced the incident on the Senate floor: “I just saw something that sickened my stomach. The manhandling of a United States Senator, we need immediate answers to what the hell went on.” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote on X that Padilla “represents the best of the Senate. The disgraceful and disrespectful conduct of DHS agents, pushing and shoving him out of a briefing like that, demands our condemnation. He will not be silenced or intimidated. His questions will be answered. I’m with Alex.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X that Padilla “is one of the most decent people I know. This is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful. Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now.”
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which Padilla is a member, said on X that the matter was “unacceptable …we demand a full investigation and consequences for every official involved in this assault against a sitting US senator.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., criticized Padilla for interrupting the news conference: “If you come to my press conference, yeah, you need to be respectful. What he ought to be doing, in my view, is making sure that we have rational immigration policy. And Senator Padilla, who’s a nice man, sat on the sidelines for four years, watch the border completely be blown apart.”
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