California Sen. Alex Padilla was handcuffed by federal agents Thursday after he interrupted a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
About five minutes into a press conference at the Westwood federal building, Noem told the media that the Trump administration planned to “liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that the governor and the mayor have placed on this country.”
Padilla, who was standing near a wall on one side of the room, then tried to interrupt Noem to ask a question, video footage shows. Cameras turned toward him as two Secret Service agents tried to push him backward. “Sir, sir, hands up,” one said.
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“I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” he said, as one agent grabbed his jacket and shoved him backward on the chest and arm. “I have questions for the secretary, because the fact of the matter is that half a dozen violent criminals that you’re rotating on your — on your …”
“Hands off!” Padilla said, as three agents pushed him into a separate room.
Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Padilla was not arrested. She said the Secret Service was assisted by FBI police officers who act as building security.
Noem continued without mentioning the disruption, telling reporters that immigration agents have been “doxxed from doing their duty, how they have been targeted and their families have been put in jeopardy.”
Next door, Padilla raised his hands in front of his chest as the agents marched him past an office cubicle and down a hallway, a video taken by a member of Padilla’s staff and shared with The Times showed.
The agents forced Padilla to his knees and then to his chest, his face against the carpet. One agent said, “On the ground, on the ground, hands behind your back.”
The officers bent one of Padilla’s arms behind his back and attached a handcuff, then said, “Other hand, sir? Other hand.”
One federal agent turned to the member of Padilla’s staff who was filming and said, “There’s no recording allowed out here, per FBI rights.”
At a makeshift podium outside the federal building, Padilla said he was attending a briefing in the federal building when he learned that Noem was nearby.
He said he wanted to ask her a question about immigration enforcement in “peaceful protest,” because he and fellow Democrats have not received answers from the administration.
“I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed,” Padilla said. “I was not arrested. I was not detained.”
If this is how the Trump administration treats a “senator with a question,” Padilla said, with tears in his eyes, “I can only imagine what they’re doing to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community.”
Noem told reporters she met with Padilla privately after the incident, then said, “I wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk.”
His approach, she said, “was something that I don’t think was appropriate at all, but the conversation was great, and we’re going to continue to communicate.”
Padilla’s run-in with federal agents was decried by California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the detainment “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.”
“Trump and his shock troops are out of control,” Newsom said. “This must end now.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the interaction with Padilla was “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous.”
“He is a sitting United States Senator,” Bass said on X. “This administration’s violent attacks on our city must end.”
Sen. Adam Schiff blasted the behavior of federal agents as “disgraceful and disrespectful,” saying it “demands our condemnation.”
Padilla “represents the best of the Senate,” Schiff said on X. “He will not be silenced or intimidated. His questions will be answered. I’m with Alex.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
