Senator ‘manhandled' in melee that upends Republican immigration offensive
A day where Republicans hoped to put Democratic governors in a bind on immigration turned on its head after California's senior senator was forcibly removed and handcuffed following an attempt to ask a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
As video of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla's removal by federal law enforcement in Los Angeles spread across Washington, his party demanded accountability and even GOP senators were rattled by the rough treatment of a statewide elected official. The episode largely overshadowed a House Oversight Committee hearing with Democratic governors that was designed to shine a critical spotlight on blue-state immigration policies.Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. told reporters afterward that he attempted to contact Padilla immediately after the incident and was waiting to hear back. He said it wouldn't change the way he and other Democrats do their jobs.
'This is not going to deter us,' he said. He disputed the notion, shared by a DHS spokesperson on X, that Padilla's removal was in part due to his failure to identify himself in the room during Noem's press conference. 'I have no doubt that they understood exactly who he was, and that makes it all the more troubling.'
Senators reviewed videos of Padilla's treatment by law enforcement agents in the room during the chamber's last votes of the week, they told Semafor. Some declined to comment without seeing more, but his colleagues were clearly unsettled — and the incident offered Democrats the chance to spotlight the military deployments that President Donald Trump has ordered in Los Angeles to tamp down protests against immigration raids.
'I don't know what preceded it … but it looks like he's being manhandled and physically removed, and it's hard to imagine a justification for that,' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor.
Schiff, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer all took to the floor quickly to denounce the incident. And news of the arrest rippled through the Oversight panel hearing room where the Democratic governors of Illinois, Minnesota, and New York were taking hours of questions on their states' immigration policies.
As photos of Padilla being held on the ground went viral online, Democrats held up printouts and asked Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., to read them into the record. After sharing several of the stories, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., asked Comer to 'commit on the record to subpoenaing Kristi Noem.'
Comer refused and grew frustrated as Frost repeated the request instead of letting the hearing continue.
'Shut up!' he said. 'Just shut up!'
'Can't follow the rules, can't follow the law,' snapped Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., accusing Frost of being a former member of 'Antifa.' After a pause, she amended that statement to say that Frost had once been arrested at a voting-rights rally.
'Proudly,' Frost countered.
The senator addressed his removal on Thursday while still in California, vowing to 'hold this administration accountable.'
'I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room, I forced to the ground and I was handcuffed,' Padilla said at a press conference.
'I was not arrested, I was not detained. I will say this: 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 are doing to farmers, to cooks, to day laborers.'
Republicans used their time at the House hearing to accuse the blue-state governors of culpability in the deaths of Americans killed by non-citizens; Democrats often used theirs to say that Trump was shredding the Constitution.
When the Padilla incident came up, they said that Democrats were over-selling what happened.
'For the record, he rushed the podium. He was being disruptive,' Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said of Padilla.Democrats, still unsure of their broader immigration agenda, have been more confident in accusing the Trump administration of overreach as troops remain on the ground in Los Angeles. And simply put, US senators don't like seeing a colleague pushed onto the ground.
Democrats were ready to support New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver after she tried to prevent ICE from arresting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka last month, and denounced it when she was charged by a Trump-appointed US attorney for impeding federal officers.
But not every Democrat was comfortable with McIver's physical involvement in that situation, or how she resisted law enforcement as they hauled Baraka away.
The video of Padilla, in his state, was more unifying: He interrupted Noem at a media event, did not resist, and was hauled away with TV cameras rolling.
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