Tensions flared among U.S. lawmakers after Sen. Alex Padilla was thrown to the floor, handcuffed and dragged out of a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday.
It happened after the California lawmaker tried to question Noem during the immigration-related event in Los Angeles.
A hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was underway in Washington as news broke about the Padilla scuffle, according to HuffPost. Florida Democrat Rep. Maxwell Frost repeatedly mentioned the incident and asked the committee to subpoena Noem for questioning.
“Shut up! Just shut up!” Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer snapped, yelling at Frost.
“No, you’re not going to tell me to shut up,” Frost retorted.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene kept interjecting, “Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time.”
Before he exploded, Comer, the committee chair, tried to ignore Frost’s request to subpoena Noem as he led a panel of governors in a discussion on sanctuary states, so-called because they offer safety from deportation to undocumented migrants.
Comer accused Frost of looking for media attention, the HuffPost reported. And Greene, wanting her turn, tried to grab the spotlight.
“Democrats can’t follow the rules! Can’t follow the law!” she yelled.
Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were horrified by how Padilla was treated at the Noem press conference.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the spectacle on the Senate floor. “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,” the New York Democrat said, according to NBC News.
And California’s other senator, Sen. Adam Schiff wrote a scathing post on X also denouncing Padilla’s treatment above a video showing the incident.
“The disgraceful and disrespectful conduct of DHS agents, pushing and shoving him out of a briefing like that, demands our condemnation. He will not be silenced or intimidated. His questions will be answered. I’m with Alex,” Schiff said.
“It’s horrible. It is shocking at every level. It’s not the America I know,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said.
California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Padilla’s treatment was unfathomable. “Sen. Alex Padilla is one of the most decent people I know. This is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful,” Newsom wrote on X. “Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now,” he added.
Noem and other officials said they had no idea who Padilla was, even though he identified himself as “Sen. Alex Padilla” before he was forcefully removed after trying to ask Noem a question. Padilla later told reporters he “was there peacefully,” according to NBC News.
Noem gave a false account of what happened in an interview with Fox News. She claimed Padilla did not identify himself.
“We were conducting a press conference to update everyone on the enforcement actions that are ongoing to bring people bring peace to the city of Los Angeles, and this man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,” Noem said in the interview.
“What happened yesterday was part of a much bigger effort to try and silence anyone who dares to question what the Trump administration is doing,” Padilla said in a post on X.
“But we will not be intimidated, and we will not be deterred. We must hold this administration accountable,” he added.
The incident follows three days of violent protests last weekend over raids by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.