Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Congressional Democrats denounce Sen. Padilla's removal from DHS news conference
Posted
June 12, 2025
Views
70,633
Likes
1,595
Engagement
2.26%
June 12, 2025
70,633
1,595
2.26%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
2:27Now PlayingDemocratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill spoke out against the forcible removal of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., by law enforcement officials Thursday after he interrupted a news conference in Los Angeles led by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem defended Trump’s militarized response to ongoing protests in Los Angeles against the administration’s ramped-up immigration raids.
“We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country,” she said, shortly before Padilla could be heard identifying himself as a senator and saying he had questions for the secretary.
Padilla was pushed out of the room by officials before he could get questions in. Noem continued with her remarks.
Protests against Trump’s actions have emerged in other cities elsewhere in the country, with more demonstrations planned for the weekend.
"Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. Secret Service thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on X.
The department said Noem and Padilla met for 15 minutes following the news conference.
In a statement, Padilla's office said the senator was "exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government's operations in Los Angeles and across California.”
His office confirmed that Padilla was in the building and was listening to Noem’s remarks.
“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 statement added.
A judge is expected to hear arguments later Thursday in a challenge from California against the administration’s deployment of military forces to respond to immigration raids in Los Angeles.
California has sued the Trump administration for calling up state National Guard troops, saying the president has overstepped his authority. Some legal experts argue the president’s justification for calling up the National Guard is untested legal theory.
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters
PBS News podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app
Find more from PBS News at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
