California Sen. Alex Padilla was chucked out of a Los Angeles news briefing as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem discussed the ongoing anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots that have engulfed the city.
The 52-year-old Democrat was hauled fighting out of Noem’s briefing Thursday afternoon as she called California and LA leaders “socialists” who are working against the Trump administration.
“Secretary, I want to know why you insist on exaggerating and embellishing,” Padilla said from the crowd, trying to cut Noem off mid-sentence.
“Hands off!” he called as Noem kept speaking, and security began shoving him toward the doors.
“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary,” he called as he wrestled with security. “Because the fact of the matter is that a half a dozen criminals that you’re rotating on your … on your …”
Padilla was then cut off and yelled, “Hands off!” several times, before being finally pushed out of the room as the briefing continued.
The senator appeared to be referencing a rogue’s gallery of illegal immigrants with alarming criminal histories — ranging from rape to murder — arrested in the ICE raids that sparked LA’s riots nearly a week ago, which the DHS has been publicizing as protests continue.
He was “temporarily detained” after the incident, according to Fox News’ reporter Bill Melugin, and then met with Noem one-on-one behind closed doors after the briefing ended.
Noem had been saying the federal government —which has dispatched hundreds of Marines and thousands of National Guard troops to LA — would remain undeterred in its efforts to “liberate this city” when Padilla cut in.
“We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country,” she said, referring to Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats.
Padilla, a Los Angeles native with Mexican immigrant parents, has been openly critical of the Trump administration’s response to the LA riots.
“This is not a rebellion,” he insisted to NBC Los Angeles on Monday, apparently in response to President Trump and his officials describing the protests as “insurrection.”
