Sen. Alex Padilla Walks Out of Hearing to Protest Republicans’ Immigration Agenda

California Sen. Alex Padilla walked out of a committee hearing Wednesday in protest of ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement treatment of immigrant communities.

Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, protested the topic of the hearing, which was set to cover the “Radical Left’s Crusade Against Immigration Enforcement.”

“Americans have had enough. They’re sick of masked agents disrespecting daycares, schools and churches, disappearing loved ones and intimidating our communities,” Padilla said in his opening remarks. “It’s clear to me that this hearing will not be a serious or constructive conversation, and for that reason, I refuse to give oxygen to the fire of disinformation that this hearing was set up to ignite.”

He then left the room.

The hearing, which comes as President Donald Trump’s ongoing mass deportation agenda plays out across the country, listed three witnesses: a local Texas sheriff, the vice president of Chicago Flips Red, a conservative advocacy group, and a journalist from the Washington Examiner.

Padilla told reporters that the hearing “wasn’t serious” as he walked out, citing a lack of government officials.

“If there’s a serious conversation, we’d have government officials participating as witnesses, fielding questions. There’s no representative from the Department of Homeland Security here. There’s no representative of ICE here to engage in meaningful conversation,” Padilla said. “And that’s not a coincidence. That’s very, very intentional. They refuse to be productive and constructive.”

Padilla also said that he raised his concerns regarding the hearing to the chair, Texas Sen. John Cornyn last week.

When reached for comment, Cornyn’s office pointed NOTUS to his remarks in the hearing.

“Sometimes the truth hurts,” Cornyn said. “People don’t want to hear it, and rather than engage in reasoned debate and discussion … they just decide to ignore it altogether and stick their head in the sand. And unfortunately you’ve seen some of that here today.”

Padilla announced in October that he would not run for California governor. One of the reasons he pointed to was that “we know that so many Latino families have been terrorized by this administration,” and added that he would continue the “fight” from the Senate.

This is not Padilla’s first time protesting in a high-profile setting. He attended an event earlier this year in California with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, where he tried to ask a question. He was shoved to the ground and handcuffed by federal law enforcement.

—
Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.