High-profile Democrats are sounding the alarm, warning that the Trump administration is escalating its attempt to descend the United States into authoritarianism after an alarming incident involving a U.S. senator at a federal building in Los Angeles on Thursday.
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The moment, captured on a phone camera and shared millions of times on social media, begins in a room filled with journalists: “I am Senator Alex Padilla,” the California Democrat says, steady and calm. Then the chaos unfolds. Federal agents grab him, twist his arms behind his back, and shove him to the floor. His voice is drowned out by the command: “Hands behind your back.” The video cuts off after someone is heard telling the person filming that videotaping was not permitted.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted a somber video in response on social media Thursday afternoon. “Like so many people around the country, I just saw something that made my stomach turn,” Buttigieg said. “A United States senator pushed to the ground and handcuffed after asking questions of a federal government official.”
Related: Federal agents drag California U.S. senator from Kristi Noem’s Los Angeles press conference in handcuffs
Padilla, the first Latino U.S. senator from California and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had been attending a scheduled military briefing Thursday at the Wilshire Federal Building when he paused to observe a nearby press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He attempted to ask a question. Within seconds, he was handcuffed.
“What are we supposed to do about that?” Buttigieg asked. “Well, first of all, we name what just happened, which is that the Trump government has crossed one of the reddest of red lines that can exist in a free society.” He urged Americans to raise their voices “like never before.”
Noem claimed on Fox News that Padilla had “lunged” at her and that he did not identify himself. However, the video of the incident contradicts both of those claims.
Padilla’s office said he was not arrested or charged. But the senator made clear that what happened to him should alarm every American. “If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question,” he told reporters, “you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to custodians, to Angelenos.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Advocate’s request for comment. But footage from the scene paints a disturbing picture: a federal lawmaker calmly trying to exercise oversight, then being silenced—physically, publicly, and on camera.
Civil rights organizations and Democratic leaders swiftly condemned the incident. “Everyone who cares about our country must condemn this undemocratic act. Full stop,” said Jay Brown, chief of staff at the Human Rights Campaign. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote, “Watching this video sickened my stomach. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.”
The incident comes amid intensifying federal crackdowns on dissent and immigration in California. Over the past week, the Trump administration has deployed Marines and thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in defiance of state objections, raising fresh questions about the legality of domestic military enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act.
It also arrives days before more than 1,500 “No Kings Day” protests are scheduled across the country in opposition to Trump’s Saturday military parade in Washington, D.C.—an event critics say is designed to showcase authoritarian power, not national pride.
Padilla, still shaken but resolute, urged Americans in remarks to reporters after the incident not to respond with violence but with vigilance. “Just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference,” he said, “I encourage everybody to please peacefully protest.”
Buttigieg, who served as a Navy officer in Afghanistan, framed the incident not only as a physical affront to a senator but as a symbolic violation of the Constitution itself. “Any salute to the flag or talk of patriotism or American greatness is completely hollow if you do not respect the freedoms that that flag represents,” he said. “The Constitution is what directs the course of this country—and they’ve shown what they think of those freedoms.”
