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A US senator was forcibly removed and handcuffed by federal agents at a press conference held by homeland security secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in California.
US Secret Service agents assigned to Noem’s security detail pushed Alex Padilla, the Democratic senator from California, from the room as Noem spoke to reporters at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles.
Video of the altercation showed federal agents wrestling Padilla to the ground outside the room and handcuffing him.
Padilla later told reporters outside the federal building that he was “almost immediately forcibly removed from the room” after he began to ask Noem a question.
“I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested,” he said.
“I will say this: if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question . . . you can only imagine what they are doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labourers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla added. “We will hold this administration accountable.”
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Padilla of “disrespectful political theatre” and “incredibly aggressive behaviour”.
She said in a series of posts to X that the senator had “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,” McLaughlin said. “Secret Service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
Video footage showed Padilla interrupting the press conference and saying, “My name is Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” as he was pushed out of the room.
The FBI later issued a statement saying Padilla was removed by Secret Service agents “when he became disruptive while formal remarks were being delivered”. It said the agents were assisted by FBI police.
“Senator Padilla did not identify himself and was not wearing his senate security pin,” the FBI added. “Senator Padilla was subsequently positively identified and released.”
The altercation involving a member of Congress and federal agents marked a new escalation after days of tensions in Los Angeles, where the Trump administration has ordered the deployment of National Guard troops and US Marines to help in an anti-immigration crackdown.
Protests have sprung up in Los Angeles and across the country in opposition to the White House’s efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
The heightened polarisation was quick to emerge in Washington after the Padilla incident, with Democrats expressing shock at federal agents’ actions and warning of threats to democracy, while Republicans condemned him for behaving badly.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said that Democrats were now “acting like lawbreakers”, and called on his Senate colleagues to discipline Padilla. “At a minimum, it runs to the levels of a censure,” he said on Capitol Hill.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday: “I just saw something that sickened my stomach, the manhandling of a United States senator. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.”
Representative Adriano Espaillat, a House Democrat from New York who is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called for an investigation into the “assault” of Padilla and for the agents who removed and handcuffed him “to be arrested”.
Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat, added: “This is the stuff of dictatorships.”
US President Donald Trump did not immediately respond to the incident. But White House communications director Steven Cheung said the video footage “shows the public what a complete lunatic Padilla is by rushing towards Secretary Noem and disturbing the informative press conference”.
Noem, who was addressing events in the city, told reporters at the press conference that Padilla’s actions were inappropriate.
“I don’t even know the senator,” she said, adding she would “have a conversation with him and visit and find out, really, what his concerns were”.
“I think everybody in America would have to agree that that wasn’t appropriate, that if you wanted to have a civil discussion, especially as a leader, a public official, that you would reach out and try to have a conversation.”
The homeland security department later said Noem and Padilla met for 15 minutes after the incident.
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