California senator details being restrained and warns of how democratic norms can slip away when power is unchecked
Alex Padilla took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to deliver a deeply personal speech, formally entering into the congressional record his account of being restrained and forcibly removed as he attempted to ask a question at a press conference held by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, in Los Angeles last week.
In emotional remarks, Padilla described the encounter that he hoped would serve as a “wake up call” for Americans – a warning, he said, of how quickly democratic norms can slip away when dissent is silenced and power is unchecked.
“If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the [audacity] to simply ask a question,” Padilla said, “imagine what they’ll do to any American who dares to speak up”.
In his floor speech, Padilla said he was in Los Angeles to conduct congressional oversight of the administration’s escalating immigration operations in the city. That morning, he was at the federal building that morning for a scheduled briefing with US northern command’s General Gregory Guillot related to the president’s order to deploy US marines to the city in response to protests against immigration raids that left Latino communities shaken and afraid.
