The Tulare County Democratic Committee issued a harsh statement of defiant condemnation following the arrest on Thursday of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D) during a press conference on immigration conducted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles.
“We are outraged by the unjust and aggressive detainment of … Padilla while he stood in defense of the people of California,” the statement from local Democrats said. “Silencing a sitting senator – especially one exercising his right to question federal actions – undermines the very foundation of democracy.”
Noem was addressing ongoing arrests of suspected undocumented individuals living in the Los Angeles area starting on Friday, June 6. The ongoing sweeps by officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have triggered nationwide protests and violent confrontations with federal officers and police in Los Angeles and Orange County.
Padilla, who was at the Wilshire Federal Building where the press event was being conducted for a military briefing, entered the room where it was being held to question Noem, he said. He was detained and removed from the room under force by members of the Secret Service. Padilla was not held in custody.
His office issued a statement to the AP following the incident: “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.”
The Department of Homeland Security issued a counterstatement: “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem. Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands.”
A video of the incident shows Padilla shouting his identity and resisting as he is pushed by an individual. A second person restrained Padilla and he was removed from the room. He was then pushed to the ground and handcuffed. Hours after his arrest, Padilla addressed a group of reporters outside the federal building where he was detained.
“Over the course of recent weeks, I (and) several of my colleagues have been asking the Department of Homeland Security for more information and more answers on their increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions, and we’ve gotten little to no information in response to our inquiries,” Padilla said. “And so I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say to see if I could learn any new additional information.”
Noem was speaking when Padilla attempted to interrupt her and was arrested. DHS defended the action, claiming the agents believed the senator was an attacker.
Padilla implied the intensity of the response to his presence at the media event was typical of the behavior of the DHS in general under the Trump administration.
“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 farm workers to cooks to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla said.
The Tulare County Democratic Committee’s statement expressed unqualified support for the senator’s actions.
“This blatant abuse of powers is unacceptable. We stand in full solidarity with Sen. Padilla and all those demanding accountability, transparency and dignity for our communities. We will not be intimidated. We will organize, resist and rise.”
Protests against the raids have since spread to at least 35 cities in 21 states, including Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Milwaukee, New York and Atlanta. Nationwide, more than 560 people have been arrested. The National Guard and Marines have been dispatched to California by the Trump administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot has called up that state’s National Guard in anticipation of ongoing civil unrest.
A lawsuit by California officials challenging the legality of using federal troops to protect ICE agents will be heard today. According to reporting by the AP, eight high-ranking former U.S. military officials said in a filing to the court that the action of the Trump administration is an unneeded risk to the well-being of the troops and poses “multiple risks to the core mission of the National Guard and Marines.”
On Saturday, hundreds of protests against the Trump administration and its policies will take place around the country. The No Kings protest has been billed as “a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allies.”
The Visalia No Kings protest is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the Tulare County Courthouse, 915 South Mooney Boulevard. In Hanford, the protest will be from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the corner of Lacy Boulevard and 12th Avenue. In Three Rivers, the No Kings protest will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. in front of the Three Rivers Post Office, 40857 Sierra Drive. More information is available at www.fiftyfifty.one.
So the running theme is the Secret Service/police/DHS officers didn’t recognize a sitting Senator from the very state they were in. That’s not very believable, and a sad commentary on the competence of the agents if true. Then to hustle him off and tell staff and reporters they couldn’t record their actions demonstrate how far Orange Idiot’s administration is willing to go to suppress opposition.
The American people have spoken and this administration is doing what they were elected to do.
Whether they recognized him or not, he was a threat based on his actions and physically resisted officers, which, as you worked for the Sheriff, Mr. Reeves, should know, is a crime. Hopefully, he gets prosecuted. See Penal Code 148(a)(1) and Penal Code 69.
I saw the video, he did not physically resist the officers. I know “officers” love to claim any failure to immediately comply is “resisting”, but you’ve really got to stretch the definition of “resisting” to apply it here. He was constantly thrown off balance, the “officers” (not in uniform or wearing any identification) basically threw him to the ground and cuffed him. Not to mention “officers” giving him conflicting orders. He was not a threat, and their reaction was completely out of proportion to his actions.
It would also be nice if you’d use your real name when challenging someone’s remarks.
I am not a officer of the law, but a civilian. What I saw in the video was resistance. Plain and simple.
What I find far more distressing and appalling is those who either don’t understand or have decided to willfully look the other way to what is happening to this country, my fear is that it is the latter. Based on comments, as long as Trump and his regime is sticking it to the other side it’s fine with them. It all about the political war, the one upmanship in verbal sparring, the using identical talking points of putdowns, divisiveness, and spewing hatred toward anyone who makes a comment that has not been vetted and approved by the MAGA machine. The people that Trump handpicked to do his dirty work I get….. they grave power and control and that they willingly jump on the devil’s bandwagon do the devils work just to keep their day job. I remember in school studying about Hitler’s regime and how he was able to take control of an entire country….. I never understood how people would be so willing to sit back and allow Hitler to usurp power and control over an entire country. He did not hide what he was, he did not hide what he was doing, he didn’t think he had to once he had control of the military and government institutions. It turned out he was right. People kept their mouths shut, they coward in fear inside their homes and workplaces, looked the other way, or they became loyal members of Hitler’s Nazi Reich. Hitler’s military’s excuse for their part in the atrocities was “we were following orders”. Private citizen’s excuse for their part in looking the other way, denying what they were seeing was self-preservation but there were also those who resisted the regime and offered assistance to persecuted individuals, risking their own lives in doing so. Those particular Germans retained their compassion, their sense of right and wrong, their humanity. I don’t know if many in today’s America would fight to save our country from becoming an American version of Hitler’s Germany. That scares me. That makes me shutter. My years are numbered due to my age but I fear for the health and welfare of my family who God willing will live but they will live with the leavings of what was once a proud caring loving place to live, raise a family, and practice the golden rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. The golden rule is being silenced, kindness, respect, and consideration that we all want to receive is now ridiculed in MAGA world, they mimic their leader-in-chief, where narcissistic hate is rewarded.
He should act like a man act like a fool we need vote Democrats out of office in California California so messed up because the Democrats
I don’t know what is more scary: the actions of Secretary Noem and her Gestapo or the willingness of the orange man’s cult members to turn a blind eye to what is going on all around us. In the Old Testament the Israelites worshipped the golden calf. We in America – a minority, I might add – worship the Orange Man. As a result, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. What price will America have to pay for this Orange Man idolatry?
It’s hysterical that anyone would compare Trump to Hitler, I mean, sending someone who is illegally in a country back to their home is wildly different than sending someone based on their race to the gas chamber .
Obviously, your knowledge of the rise of Hitler is damn near nil. You really need to educate yourself. There are plenty of in-depth books that have been written by scholars on the subject. He started out by telling lies over and over and over again to the people….. if lies are told often enough and long enough people will begin to believe it. Using propaganda and scapegoating Hitler gained popular support. He exploited nationalism and resentment. He ruled through violence and intimidation and his Gestapo silenced any opposition. Study history and above all read, read, read the many books that go into far greater detail of Hitler’s rise and fall from power in Germany. If you are honest enough to admit to yourself the comparison is too great, too damn close to ignore. But I guess that is how Trump got into power so easily too many people ignored, looked the other way, too many people needed someone to blame for everything wrong in their world and Trump made sure people believed it was anyone and everyone who he said it was.
No, I am aware of how Hitler became the monster that he was, and am aware of how the Jewish people were systematically dehumanized, I also am aware that Hitler wasn’t elected by the Germans when he first came into power, through manipulation and mounting pressure, he was named Chancellor , Trump was elected by the people of the USA. Hitler created the Nazi party , as his own personal military which he eventually used to murder and silence anyone and everyone who opposed him . Hitler tried to erase the entire race of Jews by gathering them and killing them and he almost succeeded , all because his vision was to establish the dominance of the Aryan (a superior race) over all German territory and, eventually, the entire world. Trump shows no such aspirations and to pretend he does is ridiculous and apparently it’s also disrespectful to what happened to the millions of Jews killed because of Hitlers views and to those Jews who survived. It’s also worth mentioning that Hilter was around 50 years old when the “final solution” was decided, Trump is almost 80 years old and will not be president in the near future, having already served 2 terms … as we still have a constitution. Our previous presidents have displayed more actions that could lead to a closer comparison to Germany in Hitlers time than anything Trump has said or done , by far. So go educate someone else more likely than me to fall for your ridiculous claims.
For someone who seems to be aware of the rise of Hitler and his regime you are either unwilling or unable to connect the dots ……. you are a prime example of how Hitler was able to take over Germany and you are a prime example on how Trump is able to begin his takeover of the United States…. you with your ability to not see nor speak of what’s going on in front of you. As far as educating you……. someone who rejects continually obvious truths, someone who doesn’t practice critical thinking, doesn’t want to be educated. You have been given warnings not from me in particular but from so many more other people who have served in the intelligence communities, who have served our country with valor, who have witnessed first hand just how dangerous this changing of who we are as Americans is becoming to both this country and to the world, and who have been sending out warnings of how dangerous Trump’s undermining and degrading of our government and institutions is…… your support of this regime makes you duplicitous in Trump’s attempts to change this country from a democracy to an autocracy.