Senator Alex Padilla blows up the Trump administration on Saturday, calling it “little things and safety” after Vice President JD Vance called him “Jose” at a press conference in Los Angeles the previous day.
“He knows my name,” Padilla appeared on MSNBC on Saturday morning.
Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday, sparking protests and backlash from state and local officials just under five hours after the federal immigration attacks in the city and surrounding areas.
Padilla was thrown into intense national immigration debate when he was dragged to the ground by federal law enforcement officials and was temporarily detained when he tried to ask Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem about questions at a press conference earlier this month.
Vance characterized the move by California’s first Latino senator as a “political theatre” in his remarks.
“I was hoping Jose Padilla would come here to ask questions, but unfortunately he decided not to show up because there was no theater. That’s all,” Vance said.
Vance served with Padilla in the Senate and is now the Senate Speaker of Congress. Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk told Politico that the vice president had missed pokes and “must have confused the two people who broke the law.”
Padilla said in a TV interview that she never broke the law.
He suggested that missunaming was intentional and reflects the distorted priorities of the administration.
“He’s the US vice president,” Padilla said. “I think he’ll take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.”
Padilla said Vance might have had the opportunity to speak instead to families and employers affected by the attacks committed by immigration and customs enforcement.
Other California Democrats gathered behind Padilla after the false incident.
“It’s not an accident to call him ‘Jose Padilla’,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post Friday on social media platform X.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass highlighted the racial lining in Vance’s comments.
“I think he looked like someone to you, but he’s not anyone to us,” she said at a press conference Friday. “He’s our senator.”
Source link
