U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla is pushed out of the room as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference regarding the recent protests in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Etienne Laurent/AP Photo)
Updated 2:10 p.m. Thursday
California Sen. Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed at a Los Angeles press conference Thursday, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking.
Footage from the scene shows several federal agents pushing Padilla out of the room as he says, “I’m Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary.” As they push him into an adjacent hallway, he can be heard saying, “Hands off.”
The officials then push Padilla, who has his hands up at his sides, onto his knees, then fully onto the floor, where he is handcuffed.
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Noem was talking about demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in L.A. at the time.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m., Padilla exited the federal building in Los Angeles and spoke to reporters outside, where he said he had not been arrested or detained.
Padilla said he was at the federal building to attend a briefing “as part of my responsibility as a senator to provide oversight and accountability” when he learned that Noem was holding a press conference in another room. He said he went to seek answers on the administration’s “increasingly extreme immigration actions,” because he had been unable to get a meeting with Department of Homeland Security officials.
National Guard troops stand outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday in Los Angeles. Tensions in the city remain high after the Trump administration called in the National Guard against the wishes of city leaders following two days of clashes with police during a series of immigration raids. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
When he began to ask a question, he said, he was “almost immediately forcibly removed from the room.”
“I will say this,” Padilla said outside the federal building. “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. We will hold this administration accountable.”
Padilla has long been an outspoken supporter of immigrants and migrant workers. The son of Mexican immigrants and the first Latino to represent California in the Senate, he began his political career in L.A. in the 1990s after protesting against Proposition 187, which excluded undocumented immigrants from a swath of public benefits.
Mike Madrid, a longtime political consultant, said in a social media post that he had known Padilla for 25 years, “and never seen anything like this. It’s so out of character for his measured personality — he’s a living example of how Latinos feel right now.”
In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the incident “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful,” adding that “Trump and his shock troops are out of control.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) spoke about the video on the Senate floor, saying: “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.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the incident “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous.”
“This administration’s violent attacks on our city must end,” she said in a social media post.
A statement from Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused Padilla of “disrespectful political theatre,” charging that he did not comply with requests to back away. Noem and her office accused Padilla of failing to identify himself, adding that the Secret Service “thought he was an attacker” after he “lunged toward Secretary Noem.”
Video from the scene shows Padilla clearly identifying himself as authorities grapple with him and try to push him out of the room.
The DHS statement said that the senator and Noem spoke for 15 minutes after the incident.
“The conversation was great and we’re going to continue to communicate,” Noem told reporters after walking out of the press conference. “We exchanged phone numbers and we’re going to continue to talk on ways we can communicate better.”
Ahead of the press conference, the department said the event was for Noem to “show her support for DHS, law enforcement, and U.S. military personnel who are working to restore law and order.”
The Trump administration has called on National Guard troops and Marines in recent days in response to protests of the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
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