Security officers grabbed and pushed to the ground Alex Padilla after he tried to ask a question at a news conference. Key US politics stories from Thursday 12 June 2025
Democrats have criticized the forcible removal of a senator who posed a question on Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown at a news conference as “violent”, “horrifying” and “a stunning abuse of power”.
Secret Service and FBI officers grabbed, shoved and pushed to the ground Democratic senator Alex Padilla before handcuffing him after he showed up and asked a question at the conference held by the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem.
Tensions have flared for days between Democrats and the Trump administration over the president’s use of the national guard and marines to quell protests against the administration’s anti-immigration program in Los Angeles. A district judge on Thursday night issued a temporary restraining order on the deployment, saying Trump had overstepped his authority.
“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, throughout the LA community and throughout California and throughout the country,” Padilla said after the incident.
