Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) threw a tantrum during a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and had to be forcibly removed from the event.
“The stunning altercation unfolded as Noem was speaking at the Federal Building in Los Angeles, where days of protests have erupted over the ICE raids,” NBC News Los Angeles reported. “Padilla was removed from the room after saying, ‘You insist on exaggerating.’ At least two men identified as Secret Service agents by the Department of Homeland Security approached Padilla, a Democrat, near a wall and pushed him through doors near the rear of the room.”
Let’s be clear: This wasn’t some spontaneous outburst. It was a premeditated stunt, designed to create a scene, get a reaction, and score headlines. Padilla didn’t just interrupt—he made sure the cameras were rolling, knowing full well the kind of chaos that would follow. It was political theatre, plain and simple.
“I am Sen. Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” he began, before he was removed, handcuffed, and held facedown on the floor in a hallway.
.@SenAlexPadilla berates @Sec_Noem as she highlights the vicious criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, and gangbangers the Trump Administration has gotten off the streets of LA.
Democrats will stop at nothing to put criminal illegals over American citizens. pic.twitter.com/TfcWgkgJ7J
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 12, 2025
“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X. “Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands.”
According to McLaughlin, Secret Service agents believed Padilla, who was dressed in plainclothes, “was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”
So let’s recap: A sitting U.S. senator staged a confrontation, refused to identify himself, ignored lawful commands, and was mistaken for a threat. All to score a few cheap political points on cable news.
Secretary Noem met with Padilla after the incident and held a 15-minute meeting with him that was, according to Bill Melugin of Fox News, “cordial and beneficial.”
Noem tells me she had a 10-15 minute meeting with Padilla and they swapped phone numbers. Says it was cordial and beneficial. He had concerns about ICE operations & they opened up a line of communication. Said it was a good meeting and things are okay between the two of them…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 12, 2025
Despite the meeting, Padilla then went to the media and started crying for the cameras, claiming he simply went to the press conference and wanted to ask a question.
Padilla claimed that while he was waiting for a scheduled briefing from federal officials, he learned that Noem was having a press conference a couple of doors down the hall, and decided to crash it.
“Since the beginning of the year, but especially over the course … recent weeks, I—several of my colleagues have been asking the the Department of Homeland Security for more information and more answers on their increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions. And we’ve gotten little to no information in response to our inquiries,” he said.
“And so I came to the press conference to hear what she had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information.”
He continued, “At one point, I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room.”
He added that he was neither arrested nor detained.
NEW: California Senator Alex Padilla gets choked up and practically starts crying after being arrested for his stunt at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference.
Padilla says he stumbled upon Noem’s press conference and simply “wanted to ask a question.”
The theatre here is… pic.twitter.com/rZGNC2nXOD
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 12, 2025
What a pathetic display. This is what the Democratic Party has devolved into—reckless, desperate, and hopelessly addicted to theatrics. When they can’t win on facts or policy, they resort to chaos and cheap stunts. Padilla didn’t just interrupt Secretary Noem—he pulled the classic leftist protest move: hijack the event and create a scene for the media.
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