Senator Padilla Forcibly Removed and Handcuffed at Homeland Security Secretary's Press Conference in Los Angeles

On June 12, 2025, inside the federal building in Los Angeles, a city in Los Angeles County, California, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as he tried to ask a question. Federal agents forced him to the ground and handcuffed him. His office said the same day that he was not then detained.

Padilla was at the building for a scheduled oversight briefing with General Gregory Guillot, the commander of U.S. Northern Command, on the military deployment in Los Angeles. In his later account on the Senate floor, the National Guardsman and FBI agent escorting him brought him into the press conference room. When Noem said the purpose of federal law enforcement and the military was to "liberate" Los Angeles from its governor and mayor, he announced that he was a United States senator with a question for the secretary. Before he could ask it, he was pushed and pulled out of the room, forced to the ground, first on his knees and then flat on his chest, and handcuffed, without being told why.

The Department of Homeland Security gave a different account. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that day that 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," that he was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply, and that officers who thought he was an attacker acted appropriately. The statement added that Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla afterward for 15 minutes.

Padilla is the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate and is the son of immigrants from Mexico. At the time, the Trump administration had federalized the California National Guard without Governor Gavin Newsom's consent and deployed about 4,000 Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles, as immigration raids in the region drew continuing protests. Speaking on the Senate floor on June 17, Padilla said: "If that is what the Administration is willing to do to a United States Senator for having the audacity to simply ask a question, imagine what they'll do to any American who dares to speak up."

The fight over the Los Angeles deployment moved in court the same day, when a federal judge ruled the Guard takeover illegal and ordered control returned to the governor, as GSM reported in a separate story.

Related: Federal Judge Rules Trump Takeover of California Guard Illegal, Orders Control Returned to Governor

Related: Trump Orders Federal Takeover of California National Guard, Deploying at Least 2,000 Troops Toward Los Angeles

(Source: Office of Senator Alex Padilla)

Source: Office of Senator Alex Padilla

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：加州联邦参议员 Alex Padilla 官方肖像。美国参议院摄影工作室摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official portrait of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California. Photo by the United States Senate Photographic Studio, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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