Senator Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) crashed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Thursday press conference in Los Angeles and was forcibly removed after causing a scene.
Padilla, who missed Senate votes all week, interrupted the news conference and was pushed out by security personnel in footage shared online by Fox News’s Bill Melugin. FBI personnel could be seen handling Padilla, who appears to have been taken to the ground and detained outside of the press conference room.
“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California. He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference,” his office said in a statement.
“He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”
Noem was holding the press conference to express her support for the Homeland Security personnel, law enforcement, and military personnel carrying out orders and working to quell the riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. She later told Melugin that she and Padilla had a ten to 15 minute meeting where he voiced concerns about ICE operation and opened a line of communication.
The anti-ICE riots began on Friday and exploded over the weekend as protesters assaulted and impeded law enforcement, obstructed traffic, committed acts of vandalism and property damage, and burned self driving Waymo cars. President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly mobilized the national guard to assist overwhelmed local law enforcement to contain the riots.
Trump has activated 4,000 national guard troops and 700 Marines to L.A. to help ICE agents carry out deportation operations and support law enforcement efforts to control the rioting. California Democrats have strongly opposed Trump’s use of the national guard, despite days of rioting and local law enforcement’s inability to contain it.
Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) have exchanged heated rhetoric related to the riots, with Trump calling “Newscum” weak and incompetent, and Newsom accusing Trump of exercising authoritarian impulses. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) are suing Trump for deploying the national guard and asking a court to block Trump’s order mobilizing them against the wishes of state officials.
The ongoing riots and looting in downtown Los Angeles prompted Mayor Karen Bass (D) to impose a curfew and warn violators of potential arrest for disobeying it. Bass has also criticized Trump for sending in the national guard and claimed the looters were attempting to take advantage of chaos stoked by Trump, rather than the rioters themselves.