Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) castigated President Donald Trump as a ‘vindictive president on a tour of retribution’ and warned of the administration’s actions against Americans in ‘places where there are no cameras’ in his first comments on the Senate floor since his handcuffing at a press briefing. Padilla’s handcuffing marked a dramatic moment in an already tense week for Los Angeles, where Trump had deployed National Guard troops and Marines amid protests over immigration detentions.
Padilla’s incident sparked outrage from Democrats, who criticized the administration’s heavy-handed response to a sitting senator. In a statement at the time, Padilla, alongside other Democrats, warned that his treatment by federal law enforcement could foreshadow higher risks for ordinary citizens. He emphasized this message to his Senate colleagues, cautioning that such crackdowns could silence Americans.
‘How many Americans in the year 2025 see a vindictive president on a tour of retribution, unrestrained by the majority of this separate and coequal branch of government and wonder if it’s worth it to stand up or to speak out?’ Padilla asked. He described the traumatic experience of being manhandled and forced out of the briefing room, recounting how he was shoved to the ground and handcuffed.
Padilla alleged that he was placed in cuffs after attempting to question Noem’s claim that the federal law enforcement and the military’s purpose was to ‘liberate Los Angeles from our governor and our mayor,’ which he deemed an ‘un-American’ sentiment. Noem and other officials defended the action, suggesting that Padilla’s behavior was self-serving. ‘It wasn’t becoming of a U.S. senator or a public official, and perhaps he wanted the scene,’ Noem told Fox News.
Padilla claimed he had been escorted into the briefing room by a National Guardsman and an FBI agent, having been granted permission to attend the press conference. However, the law enforcement personnel stood by silently as he was forcibly removed and handcuffed. ‘If what you saw happen can happen when the cameras are on, imagine not only what can happen but what is happening in so many places where there are no cameras,’ Padilla warned, emphasizing that the incident was not just about immigrant communities or California but about every American’s constitutional rights.
Encouraging citizens to exercise their right to peacefully protest, Padilla urged Americans to resist the administration’s alleged crackdown. ‘If this administration is this afraid of just one senator with a question, colleagues, imagine what the voices of tens of millions of Americans peacefully protesting can do,’ he said.