Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was engaging in “political theater” when he loudly interrupted her news conference Thursday in Los Angeles and lunged toward the podium.
“We were conducting a press conference to update everyone on the enforcement actions that are ongoing to bring peace to the city of Los Angeles,” Noem told Fox News.
“This man burst into the room, started lunging toward the podium, interrupting me, and elevating his voice, and was stopped,” she recounted.
Video shared by an NBC News reporter showed Padilla being removed from the room where the conference was taking place and later being handcuffed by what appeared to be DHS officers.
Senator Padilla’s office sends me this video of his take-down and detention at Sec. Noem’s press conference in L.A. pic.twitter.com/RLUVYP1Jsb
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 12, 2025
“[Padilla] did not identify himself and was removed from the room. So as soon as he identified himself, appropriate actions were taken,” Noem said.
Padilla later acknowledged he was not arrested or detained.
Noem noted, “I had a conversation with the senator after this. We sat down for 10 to 15 minutes and talked about the fact that nobody knew who he was. He didn’t say who he was until he … already had been lunging forward and people were trying to detain him for quite a period of time.”
Do you think Padilla was in the wrong?
She added that Padilla’s conduct was not appropriate and said she would have gladly sat down with him if he had requested a meeting.
“Coming into a press conference like this is political theater. It’s wrong and it does a disservice to this country and the people who live here,” the secretary argued.
Noem told Fox that the two did end up exchanging phone numbers and acknowledged that they will likely disagree 90 percent of the time on topics.
🚨DHS Sec Kristi Noem REFUTES Sen. Alex Padilla’s claim that he was just there to peacefully ask a question:
“This man burst into the room, started lunging toward the podium, interrupting me, and elevating his voice…” pic.twitter.com/oHulFg4qMW
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 12, 2025
“I wish he would have acted that way in the beginning instead of creating a scene like this,” she concluded.
During her news conference, before being interrupted by Padilla, the secretary pledged that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations will continue in LA and increase in the days ahead.
“We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and mayor have placed on this country and what they’ve tried to insert in this city,” she said.
This was the point that Padilla interrupted Noem’s remarks, speaking loudly over her.
“I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary, because the fact of the matter is, dozens of criminals that you’re rotating on your …” he began, before being taken out of the room.
BREAKING: California Democratic Senator @AlexPadilla4CA just crashed DHS Secretary Noem’s press conference in LA and was forcibly removed. pic.twitter.com/Q2sUWiImAM
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 12, 2025
“Hands off!” Padilla told the security officers as he was pushed through a doorway.
The senator later told reporters that he had come to the press conference to “hear what [Noem] had to say, to see if I could learn any new additional information, and at one point I had a question. … So I began to ask a question.”
“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers.”
Sen. Alex Padilla spoke to reporters after being physically removed from DHS Sec. Kristi Noem’s press conference in… pic.twitter.com/pVQFnUJ93N
— ABC News (@ABC) June 12, 2025
“I will say this, if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers,” he said.
“We will hold this administration accountable,” Padilla said.
The senator had not waited for Noem to finish her remarks and take questions, so he appeared intent on making a scene at the news conference.
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