A visibly emotional Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) addressed reporters on Thursday after being forcibly removed by security personnel from a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
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Padilla said he chose to attend the event after the Department of Homeland Security failed to respond to his inquiries regarding what he described as “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” in California.
“I was there peacefully,” Padilla stated. “At one point I had a question, so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately, forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground. And I was handcuffed. I was not arrested, I was not detained.”
Fighting back tears, Padilla questioned the broader implications of the incident.
“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 farmers, to cooks, to day-laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” he said.
In response, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which Padilla is a member, issued a statement demanding an investigation into what it called an “assault against a sitting U.S. senator.”
“Sen. Padilla attended an open press conference to engage in debate, to represent his state, to do his job,” the statement read.
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