WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Sen. Alex Padilla on Tuesday encouraged Americans to peacefully protest against President Donald Trump's administration and said it鈥檚 鈥渋t鈥檚 time to wake up鈥� in his first extended remarks in the Senate since he was from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles last week as he tried to speak up about .
In emotional remarks on Tuesday, Padilla, a California Democrat, recounted the altercation, in which security forced him out of the room and onto the ground after he tried to ask Noem a question. Padilla said that even though he was accompanied by a National Guardsman and an FBI agent, "I was pushed and pulled, struggled to maintain my balance鈥� and ended up flat on his chest on the floor.
鈥淚 was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, 鈥榃hy I am being detained?鈥欌�� Padilla said as several of his colleagues from both major political parties sat in their chairs and listened. 鈥淣ot once did they tell me why.鈥�
He said he wondered in the moment if he was being arrested 鈥� he wasn't 鈥� and, if he was, what the city and his family would think.
鈥淲hat will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their U.S. senator being handcuffed for just trying to ask a question?鈥� Padilla said.
In a statement afterward, the Department of Homeland Security said that Padilla 鈥渃hose disrespectful political theater鈥� and that the Secret Service 鈥渢hought he was an attacker.鈥� The statement claimed erroneously that Padilla did not identify himself 鈥� he did, as he was being pushed from the room.
鈥淧adilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers鈥� repeated commands,鈥� the statement said, adding that officers acted appropriately.
Padilla said he attended the press conference amid in California and around the country and as the Republican president sent military troops to his state. He said he spoke up after he heard Noem say that they wanted to 鈥渓iberate鈥� Los Angeles from Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats.
鈥淟et that fundamentally un-American mission statement sink in,鈥� Padilla said.
Padilla and his angry Democratic colleagues have framed the episode as intimidation by the Trump administration, especially as it came days after Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was alleging she assaulted and interfered with immigration officers outside a detention center in New Jersey while Newark鈥檚 Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, after he tried to join a congressional oversight visit at the facility.
Padilla encouraged Americans to speak out.
鈥淣o one is coming to save us but us,鈥� Padilla said. 鈥淎nd we know that the cameras are not in every corner of the country. But if this administration is this afraid of just one senator with a question, colleagues, imagine what the voices of tens of millions of Americans peacefully protesting can do.鈥�
Mary Clare Jalonick And Michael R. Blood, The Associated Press
