LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration defended its handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday, saying the Secret Service believed he was an attacker throughout a information convention with Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Padilla of “disrespectful political theater” and stated officers “acted appropriately” in an announcement following the incident. Noem and Padilla met for quarter-hour after the press convention, she stated.
The forcible removing and handcuffing of the California senator simply as he was figuring out himself marked the newest escalation between the Trump administration and Democrats over immigration, with members of Padilla’s occasion roundly denouncing the encounter.
Video supplied by Padilla’s workplace exhibits the senator approaching the lectern as Noem was talking. He was stopped and shoved again by a number of males.
“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I’ve questions for the secretary,” he stated. He tried to talk additional as he was forcibly eliminated into an adjoining room, the place he yelled “Fingers off!”
The video exhibits Padilla being compelled to the bottom and his arms handcuffed behind his again.
The outburst got here as Noem was touting federal legislation enforcement’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, highlighting people with violent felony data who have been caught within the raids. Earlier within the week, Noem had described Los Angeles as a “metropolis of criminals” whereas slamming the immigration protests.
Chatting with the media not lengthy after the confrontation, Padilla stated he was within the federal constructing for a scheduled briefing when he determined to drop by Noem’s information convention down the corridor. He stated he started to ask the secretary a query when he was “forcibly eliminated” from the room, compelled to the bottom and handcuffed.
“If that is how this administration responds to a senator with a query … you possibly can solely think about what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers,” Padilla stated. “We’ll maintain this administration accountable.”
In Washington, Democratic senators walked out of their closing vote of the day visibly agitated by the video.
“As this occasion with Senator Padilla exhibits, the Republicans evidently embrace utilizing fists,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts advised POLITICO. “Violence isn’t the reply. … It’s trying increasingly more like a fascist state on the market every single day.”
“It’s very disturbing,” Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia advised POLITICO. “We want solutions.”
Sen. Adam Schiff of California stated he was “disgusted by what I noticed,” including that Padilla has “each proper to ask questions.”
He stated, “Kristi Noem ought to by no means have been appointed to that workplace. She ought to resign from that workplace.” He known as for an investigation into the conduct of the officers who detained Padilla.
The confrontation earned a swift rebuke from different fellow Californians in Congress, who rapidly gathered on the Capitol steps to protest Padilla’s remedy.
“Forcibly eradicating a United States Senator from a press convention is disgraceful,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, the third-ranking Democrat within the Home, stated on X. “This administration’s chaos and corruption is uncontrolled.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom known as the remedy of Padilla “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful” in a social media put up shortly after the incident.
“Trump and his shock troops are uncontrolled,” he wrote.
Requested in regards to the confrontation on the information convention, Noem stated, “I am going to go to with the senator and discover out, actually, what his considerations are and what we are able to do.”
In the meantime, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina recommended Padilla received what he was on the lookout for out of the trade.
“He received what he needed, he’s on TV,” Graham stated.
He stated, “What he should be doing, in my opinion, is ensuring that we have now rational immigration coverage. And Senator Padilla, who’s a pleasant man, sat on the sidelines for 4 years, watched the border fully be blown aside. Individuals are available by the hundreds of thousands, and it is created issues for our nation.”
Senate Majority Chief John Thune stated he had seen video of the incident however needed “to get the info and discover out precisely what occurred earlier than we make any feedback about it.”
A minimum of one Republican senator, nonetheless, expressed astonishment about how Padilla was handled.
“It is horrible,” stated Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “It’s surprising at each stage. It is not the America I do know.”
Jordain Carney and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
