Recriminations

Recriminations erupt after Noem guards tackle Padilla

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers,” Padilla said.

By Melanie Mason and Lisa Kashinsky

It began as a garden-variety news conference. It ended with U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California lying prone on the floor with his hands handcuffed behind his back — the latest symbol of an overheated political system approaching its boiling point.

Video of Padilla being forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security news conference sent immediate shockwaves on both coasts Thursday. Democrats roundly denounced the encounter, with some describing it as reminiscent of a “fascist state.” Republicans largely dismissed it as political theater.

The image of the cuffed lawmaker instantly flooded the cable news airwaves and social media sites, joining other iconic pictures of the week: Protesters brandishing the Mexican flag, self-driving cars engulfed in flames and masked federal agents executing surprise immigration raids. Together, they capture the escalating tensions in Los Angeles over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and its use of executive power.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers,” Padilla said after the confrontation. “We will hold this administration accountable.”

The incident started when Padilla made an unannounced stop at a Thursday morning news conference hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The senator said he was beginning to ask a question of Noem, who was still making her prepared remarks, when he was pushed out of the room, forced to the ground in an adjacent hallway and handcuffed.

The Trump administration defended the removal and handcuffing of Padilla. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said Padilla “interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem.”

Video provided by Padilla’s office shows the senator approaching the lectern as Noem was speaking. He was stopped and shoved back by multiple men, as the senator loudly identified himself.

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” he said. He tried to speak further as he was shoved into an adjoining room, where he yelled “Hands off!”

The outburst came as Noem was touting federal law enforcement’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, highlighting individuals with violent criminal records who were caught in the raids. Earlier in the week, Noem had described Los Angeles as a “city of criminals” while slamming the immigration protests.

For California Democrats, who have been at the center of a week-long immigration maelstrom, the sight of their senior senator being aggressively manhandled by authorities was a fresh indignity.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the treatment of Padilla “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful” in a social media post shortly after the incident.

“Trump and his shock troops are out of control,” he wrote.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass expressed incredulity that federal officials would not recognize Padilla and lamented how Noem, her one-time colleague in the House, had changed.

“Madam Secretary, I do not recognize you anymore,” Bass said in a spirited news conference. “I do not know Kristi Noem that I served with for 10 years.”

Noem sought to pin the blame on Padilla for the incident.

“The way that he acted was completely inappropriate,” Noem said in a Fox News interview. “It wasn’t becoming of a U.S. senator or a public official, and perhaps he wanted the scene.”

Other Republicans similarly sought to put the focus on Padilla’s conduct. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the senator’s behavior “at a minimum, rises to the level of a censure,” although any disciplinary measures would be under the purview of the Senate. A White House spokesperson dismissed Padilla’s attendance at Noem’s news conference as theatrics.

“Padilla stormed a press conference, without wearing his Senate pin or previously identifying himself to security, yelled, and lunged toward Secretary Noem,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson. “Padilla didn’t want answers; he wanted attention. Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt — but it’s telling that Democrats are more riled up about Padilla than they are about the violent riots and assaults on law enforcement in LA.”

In Washington, news of the altercation roiled Capitol Hill. Democratic senators walked out of their final vote of the day visibly agitated by the video. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said the images of Padilla being handcuffed “sickened his stomach.”

California’s other senator, Democrat Adam Schiff, said he was “disgusted by what I saw,” adding that Padilla has “every right to ask questions.”

“Kristi Noem should never have been appointed to that office,” Schiff said. “She should resign from that office.” He called for an investigation into the conduct of the officers who detained Padilla.

Padilla’s fellow Californians in Congress quickly gathered on the Capitol steps to protest his treatment. Later, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus marched to the top Republicans in Congress — Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune — but neither leader was available.

Thune said he had seen video of the incident but wanted “to get the facts and find out exactly what happened before we make any comments about it.”

But the incident left at least a few Republicans unsettled. Padilla said in an MSNBC interview that two GOP senators texted to ask about his well-being. Others publicly expressed their concern.

“It’s horrible,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “It is shocking at every level. It’s not the America I know.”