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THE VIEW FROM HERE - In a stunning moment during a June 12, 2025, press conference in Los Angeles, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem appeared to endorse the use of federal forces to “liberate” Los Angeles and California from their duly elected leaders—whom she described as “socialist” and “burdensome.”
Around the 5:05 mark of her remarks, Secretary Noem declared:
“The Department of Homeland Security and officers and agencies and the departments in the military people that are working on this operation will continue and to sustain and increase our operations in this city. We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried ..(unintelligible).”
Immediately after this statement, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla—California’s junior senator since 2021—attempted to ask a question. Standing clearly within view of Secretary Noem, he identified himself audibly:
“I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have a question for the Secretary.”
Rather than being acknowledged, Padilla was abruptly surrounded by three to four federal security officers, one of whom shouted, “Hands up, hands up!” Despite identifying himself, Padilla was physically subdued and ultimately forced to the ground out in a hallway. Witnesses report he was pushed onto all fours, then face-down, and handcuffed.
Secretary Noem made no attempt to intervene or acknowledge the violent removal of a sitting U.S. senator from a press event. The forceful treatment raised immediate questions—not only about the conduct of her security team, but about the implications of her rhetoric just moments earlier.
Had Senator Padilla been an unknown reporter or private citizen, this may have been written off as an overreaction. But this was a high-ranking elected official, standing openly, asking a question in a public forum.
The timing is especially alarming: Padilla’s attempt to speak came just seconds after Secretary Noem asserted that federal troops were in Los Angeles to replace local leadership. The optics—and the implications—are chilling.
Senator Padilla was not arrested, but the incident is already being cited as a dangerous escalation in the relationship between federal authorities and local California leadership. The question now: was this a spontaneous overreach—or part of a broader strategy that Americans should be deeply concerned about?
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
