503 events on record Subscribe June 29, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

DHS agents forcibly removed and handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla at Noem press conference in Los Angeles

On June 12, 2025, FBI police officers and U.S. Secret Service agents physically seized California Senator Alex Padilla, dragged him from the room, and handcuffed him face-down outside after he stood to question Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about immigration enforcement operations at her press conference at the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. Padilla was not arrested and no charges were filed; video showed him identifying himself as a senator before agents removed him. The incident drew bipartisan condemnation, with Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski calling it "disturbing," and Senate Democrats demanding a congressional investigation.

Jurisdiction
federal
Location
Los Angeles, California

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 12, 2025, FBI police officers and U.S. Secret Service agents physically seized Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and removed him from a press conference held by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem at the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. After Padilla stood to ask a question about the administration's immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles — where federal agents had been conducting mass arrests — agents grabbed him, dragged him from the conference room, forced him face-down to the ground in a hallway, and handcuffed him. He was not arrested, no charges were filed, and he was released without explanation. Video of the incident showed Padilla clearly identifying himself as a U.S. Senator before agents removed him.

DHS claimed Padilla was "disruptive" and not wearing his Senate security pin. Padilla disputed the characterization; colleagues present stated he had calmly stood and identified himself before being seized. The senator said afterward: "If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they are doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community."

The incident drew immediate bipartisan condemnation. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski called it "disturbing." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders demanded a congressional investigation into the use of federal law enforcement to physically eject a sitting senator during an oversight interaction with a Cabinet official. The U.S. Secret Service and FBI declined to provide additional comment beyond the initial DHS statement.

Why we recorded this

Congress holds independent Article I authority, and senators who attend executive press events to ask Cabinet officials questions about ongoing federal operations perform a core oversight function. Using federal law enforcement to physically eject and handcuff a sitting senator during that activity substitutes executive coercion for democratic accountability — removing a legislator from the proceeding by force rather than rebutting oversight through legitimate means. The Speech or Debate Clause (Art. I, § 6) shields legislators from executive interference with legislative acts; physical detention, regardless of the pretext offered about a security pin, is the most direct available expression of executive hostility to legislative oversight and fits squarely within attacks-on-legislative-independence and obstructing-congressional-oversight.

Sources

  1. Alex Padilla removed from Noem press conference and handcuffed — CNN primary accessed June 26, 2026
  2. Senator Alex Padilla removed and handcuffed at DHS press conference — NPR secondary accessed June 26, 2026

See also