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California Sen. Alex Padilla was handcuffed by federal agents on Thursday after a press conference held by Los Angeles Secretary of Homeland Security Christie Noem.
About five minutes after a press conference at the Westwood Federal Building, Noem told the media that the Trump administration is “planning to free the city from the socialists and burdensome leaders that the governor and mayor have placed in the country.”
Standing near a wall on one side of the room, Padilla tried to break the gnome and cut off her to ask a question, video footage shows. The camera headed towards him as two Secret Service agents tried to push him behind him.
“I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” he said. An agent grabbed her jacket and thrust her backwards into her chest and arms. “I have a question for my secretary. The fact in question is that you are a half dozen violent criminals spinning over you – your…”
“Hands off!” Padilla said as three agents shoved him into another room.
Padilla, a Democrat raised by Mexican immigrants in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, was caught up in politics in the 1990s, disappointed by anti-immigrant sentiment, and this week encouraged Los Angeles residents to protest the immigration sweep.
“If this is how this administration responds to the senators with questions,” Padilla later said, his eyes in tears and healthy.
Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Laura Eimiller said Padilla was escorted from the room by Secret Service and FBI police officers but built security but was not arrested. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Padilla was not wearing a security pin and “he physically resisted law enforcement when he was faced with it.”
Noem continued without mentioning the confusion, telling reporters, “The immigration agents “were they were targeted and their families were put in danger after fulfilling their duties.”
Padilla’s “freakout” video was mentioned in an X’s post by White House communications director Stephen Chen. Videos in the room showed Padilla interrupting the gnome, but not showing him rushing towards her.
After being escorted to another room and leading several doors, Padilla marched past the office cubicles and down the hallways, raising her hands in front of her chest as agents filmed a video that was shared with Padilla’s staff members.
The agent pressed Padilla into her lap and then onto his chest, his face against the carpet. One agent said, “I held my hands behind my back, on the ground.”
The officer bent one of Padilla’s arms behind her back and handcuffed her, saying, “The other hand, the other hand.”
One federal agent turned to members of Padilla’s staff filming and said, “According to the rights of the FBI, recordings are not permitted here.”
Norm told reporters he met Padilla personally about 15 minutes after the incident, saying, “I wish he had reached out and identified himself, told him who he was and that he wanted to talk.”
His approach was “I didn’t think it was appropriate at all, but the conversation was great and we’re going to continue communicating,” she said.
Padilla said she was present at a briefing with General Gregory Guillott, commander of the Northern United States Command, on the podium outside the federal building, when she learned of the press conference.
He attended the press conference as he and his fellow Democrats said they had received “little or no information” from the administration.
“At one point, I had a question so I started asking questions,” Padilla said. “I was immediately forced out of the room. I was forced to the ground and handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not taken into custody.”
Padilla’s swarming with federal agents was condemned by California officials, including the California governor. Gavin Newsom called the detention “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.”
“Trump and his shock forces are out of control,” Newsom said. “This has to be over now.”
At a downtown press conference Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said federal agents “pushed and cuffed the sitting US senator” as the people behind her.
“How can you say you didn’t know who he was?” Bass said. “We watch videotapes. We see him say who he is, why don’t we recognize one of our two senators in our state? And he’s not just a senator. He is the first Latino civic senator to represent our state.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, another Democrat who represents California in the Senate, has accused the federal agents of “disgraceful and rudeness” of the actions and “request our condemnation.”
Padilla “represents the Senate’s best,” Schiff said in X. “He will not be silent or threatened. His questions can be answered.
In Washington, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said on the Senate floor that Padilla’s video “had made my stomach sick.”
“It’s mean, I hate it,” he said. “It’s very non-American, very American, you need an answer. You need an answer right away.”
Times staff writers Richard Winton and Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
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