There are plenty of scenes that are lived these days in California. This Thursday has left a new one, the brief arrest of, the first and only Latin senator that has had the most populous state in the country. The legislator broke a press conference of Kristi Noem, the Secretary of National Security of Donald Trump, who is in Los Angeles to support the undocumented capture operations that have unleashed six days of protests and disturbances in the streets of the Great City.
“If this is how the government answers a senator who wants to ask a question, we can only imagine what they are doing to peasants, chefs or workers throughout the city,” Padilla said after the incident.
The senator explained that he was inside the FBI building in Los Angeles waiting for federal authorities to begin an informative meeting on the raids that have arrested more than 300 people in the metropolitan area since last week. While waiting, Padilla learned that a floors were about to celebrate a press conference from, one of the most visible faces of the Washington anti -immigrant crusade.
Noem had been talking just five minutes, during which he defended the controversial decision of the Trump administration to deploy 4,000 national guards and 700 Marines in Los Angeles. “We will not go anywhere. We will stay here until this city from the Socialists and deal with the burden that the governor and the mayor,” Noem had said when a noise began to be heard in the room.
Guardian pushes
Camarographers diverted their goals to aim at the unusual scene: a group of bodyguards contained the corpulent Padilla. They took him to push. “Lord, Lord, I am Senator Alex Padilla, I have a question for the secretary …”, the Democratic politician managed to say before three men withdraw him from the room. In the corridor, Padilla was forced to fuck and bedtime while FBI police handcuffed him. The scene was recorded by one of the members of the Padilla team, who later informed that he was not arrested and that his arrest was brief.
The image, captured in a room full of journalists, quickly went viral. “This is scandalous, dictatorial, a shame,” he said, governor of California, turned into the face of Trump’s resistance following the president’s decision to militarize Los Angeles. The president’s office recalled that in just five months of the Presidency, the Government has arrested a mayor, a judge and a union leader. “If a president did this in another country, we would have a word for him: dictator,” he added. Criticism followed as an avalanche. “This is not just an attack on the senator, but to freedom of expression in this country … These actions send a message to all, nobody is safe here,” Nancy Peeli, ancient speaker of the House of Representatives.
Karoline Leavitt, White House spokeswoman, through social networks. “He should be ashamed of his child behavior,” Leavitt accused. This, leaning on a video, accused the legislator of launching the podium who at that time occupied Noem with other officials, including the head of the ICE. Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, said the force personnel acted properly.
The National Security Department states that Padilla chose “an disrespectful political theater” to confront Noem. The official secretariat said that the legislator was not identified. This despite the fact that all the cameras present recorded the moment that Padilla says who he is. The senator reported that he could meet for 15 minutes behind closed doors with Noem after the scene that has caused anger among the Democrats.
Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democratic Senator of Nevada, also Latin, asked for the resignation of Noem. “This level of abuse of power is shameful and outrageous,” he said. Ben Ray Luján, Senator for New Mexico, did the same: “This administration claims to go for criminals, but they are actually chasing their political opponents.”
Democratic senators believe that the scene reinforces the authoritarian assault of Trumpism, and have criticized Republicans for staying silent.
Padilla, son of undocumented, has complained about the opacity with which the government carries out migratory raids. In recent days, federal agents have arrested more than 300 people in Los Angeles. Only a small fraction of them has a criminal record.
The senator is not the first Democratic legislator who tries to meet with the undocumented who have been arrested. Several congressmen and representatives of the district of the center of Los Angeles have been recorded trying to enter. In all these cases, they have been rejected by security forces. “We will be demanded to this government,” Padilla said after being handcuffed by the FBI.
