Sen. Alex Padilla forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday after trying to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference related to immigration.

“I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla said to Noem, which prompted several men to physically push him out of the room. It was unclear who the men were, as several were dressed in plain clothes.

Padilla’s office shared a video of the incident with NBC News. The video shows Padilla being taken into a hallway outside and pushed face forward onto the ground as officers with FBI-identifying vests told the senator to put his hands behind his back. The officers then handcuffed him.

President Donald Trump’s immigration policies — and the administration’s handling of demonstrations against those policies — have sparked an outcry in recent days. After protesters clashed with officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles on Friday, the president deployed members of the National Guard, and later Marines, to assist local law enforcement. Dozens of demonstrations have taken place across the country in the days that followed.

Speaking to reporters later Thursday, Padilla said he was receiving a briefing from military officials when he learned Noem was in the same building and decided to join her briefing.

“I was there peacefully,” he said. “At one point, I had a question, and 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.”

He added, “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 farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country.”

DHS responded on X, falsely claiming that Padilla “interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself.” Noem made the same false allegation during an interview on Fox News.

“Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” DHS said, claiming that agents “thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting.”

Before Padilla began questioning Noem, she spoke to reporters about the administration’s actions, the subject of her appearance in Los Angeles. Noem said that DHS and its agencies, as well as the military, “will continue to sustain and increase our operations in this city,” she said.

“We are not going away,” she said. “We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country,” she said, referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats.

As Padilla tried to question her, Noem spoke over the senator, “I want to say thank you to every single person,” and he was removed from the room.

The incident provoked further outrage from Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., denounced the incident on the Senate floor. “I just saw something that sickened my stomach — the manhandling of a United States senator. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on,” he said.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the state’s other senator, wrote on X that Padilla “represents the best of the Senate. The disgraceful and disrespectful conduct of DHS agents, pushing and shoving him out of a briefing like that, demands our condemnation. He will not be silenced or intimidated. His questions will be answered. I’m with Alex.”

Newsom said in a post on X that Padilla “is one of the most decent people I know.” “This is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful. Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now,” he added.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris called the incident “a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”

Republicans, meanwhile, criticized Padilla over the episode.

“Padilla didn’t want answers; he wanted attention,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. “Padilla embarrassed himself and his constituents with this immature, theater-kid stunt.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said that what his Democratic colleague “ought to be doing, in my view, is making sure that we have rational immigration policy. And Sen. Padilla, who’s a nice man, sat on the sidelines for four years, watch the border completely be blown apart.”

The incident follows a string of arrests of Democratic elected officials related to immigration. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested last month for allegedly trespassing at an ICE facility in New Jersey. The charges were ultimately dropped, but he has sued interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba over the incident and Ricky J. Patel, a special agent in charge of the Newark division of Homeland Security Investigations.

Earlier this week, Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted on federal charges that stemmed from the same confrontation with law enforcement.

Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan also suggested that Newsom and Bass could be arrested, too, if they interfere with federal agents.