Padilla: If This Happened to Me, ‘Imagine’ What’s Happening to Migrants

Sen. Alex Padilla held an emotional press conference Thursday shortly after being forcefully ejected from a Department of Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles.

He recounted the incident in detail, saying that as he tried to speak up and ask Secretary Kristi Noem a question, he was grabbed by several federal officers and pushed out of the room.

“I will say, if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, 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 farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla said.

“We will hold this administration accountable,” he continued.

Several videos of the incident were shared on social media, including one that showed what happened after Padilla was forced out of the room.

Law enforcement officers can be seen grabbing Padilla as he yelled, “Hands off!” Shortly thereafter, they forced the California Democrat onto his knees while instructing him to place his hands behind his back.

“If you let me get off my hands I can put my hands behind my back,” Padilla says, while three officers forced him to lay down face-first and placed handcuffs around his wrists. In his press conference, Padilla said he was released after a short time, and claimed that he had not been arrested or detained.

DHS explained the incident by claiming that Padilla “lunged” toward Noem and did not identify himself, despite video footage of Padilla yelling: “I am Senator Alex Padilla” while being approached by officers.

“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 department wrote. ”Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. @SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting.”

Noem told CNN following the incident that she was able to speak with Padilla one-on-one and that it was a “great” conversation.

“We had a great conversation, sat down and talked for 10, 15 minutes about operations in LA, some activities of the Department of Homeland Security,” she said. “His approach, you know, was something that I don’t think was appropriate at all. But the conversation was great, and we’re going to continue to communicate. We exchanged phone numbers, and we’re going to continue to talk about ways we can communicate better.”

Political reaction was swift, particularly from the California Democratic congressional delegation, which universally spoke against the action.

At a press conference House Democrats held on Capitol Hill after the incident, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said watching the incident “had me thinking: Is this what it felt like to be in Germany in 1933?”

“This is not the end, I’m afraid, but the beginning of the outrageous, lawless action being undertaken by this administration. And the abuse of the people of California by abusing the senior senator from California has us outraged and speaking out.”

Sen. Adam Schiff, Padilla’s counterpart on Capitol Hill, told reporters that the incident was “disgraceful.”

“It shows the utter disregard that this administration has for any bounds of law or civility,” he said. “That it has already descended to this within the first 150 days tells us what a terrible period is yet to come for the country.”

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, another California Democrat, issued a warning: “We’re headed down a dark, dark path.”

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Nuha Dolby is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.