Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, will be speaking on the Senator’s floor on June 17, 2025 how he was forced to remove him from a press conference with the Secretary of Homeland Security. (Screenshots from the Senate webcast)

WASHINGTON – Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forced to remove from a press conference with the Secretary of Homeland Security, said Tuesday that his hometown is a testing ground for President Donald Trump to promote deployment of troops in the United States.

Trump is using it to send immigrants from countries that do not have legal status as scapegoats to the military, Padilla said. “I refuse to allow immigrants to become political pawns on his path to fascism,” Padilla said.

That’s the first floor speech that the California senator has given since. A highly publicized incident in Los Angeles last week. The Secret Service handcuffed Padilla after trying to question Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem.

Trump sent out several days of protests against immigration and customs enforcement raids and troops against California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wish. The Court of Appeals hears on Tuesday Litigation Discussion California claims the president has illegally ruled the state security forces.

“He wants a sight,” Padilla said of the president. “It justifies his undemocratic crackdown and his authoritarian power.”

The LA protests were sparked after ice-targeted Home Depot, a place where workers on undocumented days are usually looking for work for immigrant raids.

Arrest, confrontation

The Padilla incident, which is widely captured in the video, was a severe escalation of tensions between Democrats and the administration over Trump’s drive to enact a massive deportation.

That’s what New Jersey’s democratic MPs do. Faced with federal fees Regarding allegations that she pushed immigrant staff while protesting the opening of an immigration detention center in Newark. And then on Tuesday, in New York City, an ice officer arrested the city’s director. Mayoral candidate Brad Lander was escorting immigrants to immigrants at immigration court hearings; Associated Press.

In a statement to the state newsroom, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said Lander was “arrested for attacking law enforcement and obstructing federal officials.”

“No one is beyond the law. If you put your hands on a law enforcement officer, you’ll face consequences,” McLaughlin said.

The president is late on Sunday Commands ice to carry out immigrant raids in New York, LA and Chicago. This is the three most populous cities in the country.

“We will follow the directions of the President and continue to work to get the worst crimes and illegal aliens from the streets of America,” McLaughlin said.

“They opened the door for me.”

In a Senate statement, Padilla described the incident in which she was handcuffed and detained last week.

On June 12, he held a meeting with General Gregory M. Guillott, commander of the US Northern Command, to discuss military presence in LA.

Padilla, a top Democrat on the Judicial Committee, which oversees DHS and immigration policy, said the meeting with the general was delayed due to a press conference across the hall with NOEM.

Padilla said he tried to speak to DHS because LA “sees an unsettling pattern of increasingly extreme and cruel immigration enforcement projects targeting non-violent people in places of worship, schools and courts.”

So Padilla asked to attend the press conference and said that National Guard members and FBI agents had escorted him.

“They opened the door for me,” he said.

When he heard, he said that a comment from Noem forced him to ask questions.

“We haven’t disappeared,” Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, told the press. “We are here to free the city from socialists and burdensome leadership from what this governor and this mayor put in this country and what they tried to insert into the city.”

Padilla said her remarks hit him as an “American Mission Statement.”

“That’s not the mission of federal law enforcement and the US military,” he said. “Are we really prepared to live in a country where the president can deploy his troops and decide which legitimately elected governors and mayors should be allowed to lead their members?”

Padilla says before he finishes his questioning, he has been physically taken away and the National Guard and FBI agents who escorted him to the room “stand quietly and know who I am.”

When he stated that he was handcuffed, Padilla paused and became emotional.

“I was forced to kneel first and then onto the ground flat on my chest,” he said.

Padilla said he pierced his head as he marched down the hallway and continued to ask why he was in detention: Where are they taking me? When cities that are already unmilitarized see them handcuffed just to try and ask questions, what do cities do when they see their senators being handcuffed? What do you think of my wife? What do we think of our boys?

“I remember asking myself if this aggressive escalation was the result of talking about Trump administration’s abuse and overreach. Was it really worth it?” Padilla asked. “If the US Senator is too afraid to speak, how can we expect other Americans to do the same thing?”

Padilla-Noem Meeting

In a statement, DHS, I said The Secret Service didn’t know that Padilla was a US Senator, but the video of the incident shows that Padilla said he was a senator.

“I’m Senator Alex Padilla and I have a question for the Director,” he said as four federal law enforcement officials grabbed him and shoved him into the ground.

Noem met with Padilla after being handcuffed, his office told the state newsroom.

“He raised concerns about the military deployment and unnecessary escalation last week, among other issues,” his office said. “And he expressed his frustration at the continued lack of response from this administration. It was a civic and simple meeting, but the secretary did not provide any meaningful answers. The senator was simply trying to do his job and seek the answers of the people he represents in California.”

US House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that the Senate take action against Padilla, including criticism. Johnson criticized the senator’s actions and accused him of indicting him with Noem. Padilla is not seen in multiple videos of the incident.

“I’m not in that room, but I think it deserves the immediate attention of other colleagues over there,” said the Louisiana Republican. “I think that behavior will at least rise to the level of condemnation. I think we need a message sent from the whole body.”

Senate Democrats have combined support around Padilla. At a press conference Tuesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer praised Padilla in a speech on the Senate floor.

“It was basically a strong plea for America to regain the gyroscope of democracy. “It’s a wake-up call for all Americans.”

Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.