Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it “sickened my stomach -- the manhandling of a United States Senator.” Padilla’s California colleague Adam Schiff called for an immediate investigation. Several Democrats were dropping the word “fascism” in conversations as they made their way out of the Capitol.

Republicans continued to chastise Padilla, using words like “launch,” “lunge” and “bum rush” to describe Padilla’s behavior as he began to try to pose a question to Noem.

California Senator Alex Padilla delivered an emotional address on the Senate floor today, recounting his forceful removal from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference last week, an incident that others are now characterizing as a deliberate act of political theater.

Alex Padilla asked a question at a DHS presser and ended up handcuffed—because that’s where we are now in 2025.

The protests planned for Saturday could become the largest nationwide demonstrations of Trump’s second term. But unlike in previous eras, the government’s posture heading into them is not one of caution: it is one of preparation,