Senator Alex Padilla of California on Thursday was forcibly removed and handcuffed after interrupting a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a startling episode that deepened partisan tensions over the Trump Administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles.
Video footage released by Padilla’s office shows the Democratic Senator approaching the podium during Noem’s remarks: “I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Secretary,” he said before several men, including officers wearing FBI insignia, physically pushed him back. Moments later, Padilla was shoved to the floor face-down in a hallway outside the briefing room, handcuffed, and temporarily detained in an adjoining room.
“Hands off!” Padilla shouted during the scuffle, which unfolded in front of reporters and staff in a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where protests have raged for nearly a week over a Trump-ordered crackdown involving ICE, National Guard troops, and U.S. Marines.
According to a statement from Padilla’s office, the Senator was in the building for a scheduled briefing with military officials and had been listening to Noem’s remarks when he attempted to raise concerns. “He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground, and handcuffed,” the statement read. “He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”
Asked about the confrontation during the press conference, Noem initially criticized Padilla’s interruption, according to footage from Fox News. “I think everybody in America would agree that that was inappropriate,” she said. Noem added that she had not been contacted by Padilla prior to the event and did not know he planned to be there, but added that she would try to speak with him later: “When I leave here, I’ll have a conversation with him and visit and find out, really, what his concerns were,” Noem said.
About an hour later, Noem confirmed that she had spoken with Padilla. “We had a great conversation. Sat down, talked for 10, 15 minutes about operations in L.A., some activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and so I thought it was very productive,” Noem told reporters after the news conference. “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 was something that I don’t think was appropriate.”
Asked why he was forcibly removed from the press conference, Noem deferred to law enforcement, adding “but I will say that it’s—people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at people during press conferences.”
The Department of Homeland Security characterized it differently: “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement said. “Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. [The Secret Service] thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting.”
Noem, whose department oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been a key figure in executing the Trump Administration’s controversial immigration agenda.
The physical removal of a sitting U.S. Senator sparked immediate backlash in Washington and across the country. “You’re literally watching our democracy disintegrate,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told TIME. “And if these Republicans don’t stand up at this moment for a United States Senator being manhandled, put on the ground and handcuffed… this doesn’t happen in America.”
California’s other Democratic Senator, Adam Schiff, told reporters that there should be an investigation into the conduct of the officers who pushed Senator Padilla face forward onto the ground. “Alex Padilla had every right to go into that room and demand answers. That is what a Senator does,” Schiff said. “For him to get that kind of abusive treatment, every Senator who works in this Capitol should be offended by this and outraged by this.”
The confrontation is the latest flashpoint in a growing legal and political battle over the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. More than 2,000 National Guard troops are currently on the ground in L.A. after being deployed by Trump earlier this week. About 500 of those troops have been trained to accompany ICE agents on operations.
The military deployments have coincided with nightly protests across the city and a curfew in parts of downtown. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that the curfew would remain in effect “as long as they are needed.”
A federal judge in San Francisco heard arguments Thursday in a case brought by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seeking an emergency order to block the use of troops in immigration enforcement. The lawsuit argues that the use of military personnel in civil law enforcement operations undermines democratic norms and violates state sovereignty.
In 2020, Newsom appointed Padilla, California’s secretary of state, to fill a Senate seat left vacant by Kamala Harris’ election as Vice President. In a statement Thursday after the incident with Padilla, Newsom called the Senator “one of the most decent people I know” and described the events as “outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful. Trump and his shock troops are out of control.”
Harris shared on social media the video of Padilla being ejected from the press conference, condemning the episode. “United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration’s actions in Southern California,” she posted on X. “This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”
The incident comes just two days after Rep. LaMonica McIver, a Democrat from New Jersey, was indicted on federal charges by the Trump Administration alleging she assaulted and interfered with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center. Video of the incident appeared to show McIver slamming her arm into two agents as she protested the attempted removal of Newark’s mayor, who had accompanied her on what she described as an oversight visit.
Several Democratic Senators said they were concerned that the Administration could move to prosecute Padilla, though he has not been charged with any crimes. “We see time and time again with this Administration trying to precipitate a response by the misuse and the abuse of force,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said on the Senate floor. “This is more akin to authoritarian governments when you see a democratic nation having their Executive begin to arrest mayors, begin to arrest judges, begin to arrest a United States Senator who is simply asking for answers to their questions… This is something that we should not tolerate.”
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