Senator Alex Padilla Forcibly Removed From Kristi Noem Event in L.A., Slammed to Ground and Handcuffed

Senator Alex Padilla of California on Thursday was forcibly removed and handcuffed after interrupting a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a startling episode that deepened partisan tensions over the Trump Administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles.

Video footage released by Padilla’s office shows the Democratic Senator approaching the podium during Noem’s remarks: “I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Secretary,” he said before several men, including officers wearing FBI insignia, physically pushed him back. Moments later, Padilla was shoved to the floor face-down in a hallway outside the briefing room, handcuffed, and temporarily detained in an adjoining room.

“Hands off!” Padilla shouted during the scuffle, which unfolded in front of reporters and staff in a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where protests have raged for nearly a week over a Trump-ordered crackdown involving ICE, National Guard troops, and U.S. Marines.

According to a statement from Padilla’s office, the Senator was in the building for a scheduled briefing with military officials and had been listening to Noem’s remarks when he attempted to raise concerns. “He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground, and handcuffed,” the statement read. “He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”

Asked about the confrontation during the press conference, Noem initially criticized Padilla’s interruption: “I think everybody in America would agree that that was inappropriate.” She added that she had not been contacted by Padilla prior to the event and did not know he planned to be there, but added that she would try to speak with him later: “When I leave here, I’ll have a conversation with him and visit and find out, really, what his concerns were,” Noem said.

Noem, a key figure in executing the Trump Administration’s controversial immigration agenda, was in Los Angeles to promote what she called “a coordinated and necessary response” to border security failures and what she described as “sanctuary city lawlessness.

The physical removal of a sitting U.S. senator sparked immediate backlash in Washington and across the country. “You’re literally watching our democracy disintegrate,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told TIME. “And if these Republicans don’t stand up at this moment for a United States Senator being manhandled, put on the ground and handcuffed… this doesn’t happen in America.”

California’s other Democratic Senator, Adam Schiff, told reporters that there should be an investigation into the conduct of the officers who pushed Senator Padilla face forward onto the ground. “Alex Padilla had every right to go into that room and demand answers. That is what a Senator does,” Schiff said. “For him to get that kind of abusive treatment, every Senator who works in this Capitol should be offended by this and outraged by this.”