Padilla addresses Trump administration's 'militarization' of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - U.S. Senator Alex Padilla delivered a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday addressing his forcible removal during a Department of Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles last week.

What we know:

The confrontation on June 12 was caught on video as dozens of journalists attended the Los Angeles press conference to hear DHS Secretary Kristi Noem discuss the recent raids and protests across Southern California.

Padilla appeared to interrupt Noem as she was speaking. She had not opened the press conference to questions at that time. 

Padilla identified himself and started asking a question when two to three men started pushing him towards the door. 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: VIDEO: Sen. Alex Padilla forcibly removed from DHS Kristi Noem's news conference

"I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary because the fact of the matter is half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your…. hands off," the senator could be heard saying. 

Padilla resisted as he kept asking his question. After exiting the room, an FBI agent grabbed him, and he was escorted away. Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal officers in a hallway of the federal building. He was then released. 

While addressing the media later in the afternoon, Padilla clarified that he was not arrested or detained. 

What we don't know:

The DHS and the FBI have not released an official statement or provided a detailed explanation regarding the specific reasons for Padilla's removal and the use of force, including handcuffing, during the press conference.

It is also not fully clear what specific policies or protocols federal agents were operating under when they removed a sitting U.S. Senator who had been escorted into the event by federal personnel.

What they're saying:

Senator Padilla addressed the incident during a speech on the Senate floor. Below is a transcript of a portion of his remarks:

"The Trump administration has done everything in their power but to provide transparency to the American people about their mission in Los Angeles. And so last week, I chose to go home to try to get answers from the administration, as they are literally militarizing our city. And I want to share what I learned," he said.

Padilla recounted his arrival at the federal building: "In my effort to do my duty to conduct congressional oversight and to try to get answers from the Department of Defense, that state and local officials were not receiving, I went to the federal building in West Los Angeles. I was met at the entrance by a National Guardsman and an FBI agent who escorted me through security screening and up to a conference room for my scheduled briefing."

He continued, describing how he entered the press conference: "While waiting, I learned that Homeland Security Secretary Noem was holding a press conference, literally just down the hall, and that press conference was causing my briefing to be delayed. The thought occurred to me that, well, maybe I could attend this press conference and listen in. Just listen in the hopes of hearing Secretary Noem provide some new information that can help us make sense of what was happening. I didn't just get up and go. I asked and was escorted by the National Guardsmen and the FBI agent into the press conference. They opened the door for me. They accompanied me into the press briefing room. And they stood next to me as I stood there for a while listening. And at one point, [Noem] said that the purpose of federal law enforcement and the purpose of the United States military was to 'liberate Los Angeles from our governor and our mayor' to somehow liberate us from the very people that we democratically elected to lead our city and our state."

Padilla directly challenged this sentiment: "To my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, are we truly prepared to live in a country where the president can deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors and mayors should be allowed to lead their constituents?"

Reflecting on his personal background, he stated: "As the proud son of immigrants from Mexico, it's that same right that I came to Revere when marching through the streets with my family and my friends in 1994, in Los Angeles, protesting against the vile anti-immigrant rhetoric that was growing in California at that time."

He concluded his account of the incident: "California has seen this before. So last week, when I heard something so blatantly un-American from the Secretary of Homeland Security, a cabinet official, of course, I was compelled both as a senator and as an American, to speak up. But before I could even get out my question, I was physically and aggressively forced out of the room. Even as I repeatedly announced I was a United States Senator. And I had a question for the Secretary. And even as the National Guardsman and the FBI agent who served as my escorts and brought me into that press briefing room, stood by silently knowing full well who I was. You've seen the video. I was pushed and pulled, struggled to maintain my balance. I was forced to the ground. First on my knees. And then flat on my chest. And as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway, repeatedly asking why am I being detained? Not once did they tell me why."

Padilla also shared his immediate thoughts during the event: "I pray you never have a moment like this, but I will tell you in that moment, a lot of questions came to my mind. First of all, ‘where are they taking me?’ Because I know I'm not just being escorted out of the building. ‘Am I being arrested here?’ What will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their United States senator being handcuffed just for trying to ask a question? And ‘what would my wife think? What will our boys think?’ If the United States Senator becomes too afraid to speak up. How can we expect any other American to do the same?"

The backstory:

Last week, President Donald Trump deployed approximately 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles. 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Trump pledges to use 'every resource possible' on ICE raids in LA, Chicago, NYC

Following these events, Padilla led the Senate Democratic Caucus in a formal demand that Trump immediately withdraw all military forces from Los Angeles and cease any further threats to deploy the National Guard or active-duty servicemembers to American cities.

The other side:

Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward and agents have thousands of targets.

"This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles," she said during the June 12 news conference.

She pledged that federal authorities "are not going away" even though, she said, officers have been hit with rocks and bricks and assaulted. She said people with criminal records who are in the country illegally and violent protesters will "face consequences."

"Just because you think you’re here as a citizen, or because you’re a member of a certain group or you’re not a citizen, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be protected and not face consequences from the laws that this country stands for," she said.

Noem criticized Padilla’s interruption, calling it "inappropriate." 

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