Left-wing political activist Maria Teresa Kumar blamed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday for the removal of Democrat California Sen. Alex Padilla after he heckled her at a press conference.
Padilla forced his way into Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles and disobeyed officers’ orders on Thursday, causing law enforcement to forcibly remove him, take him to the ground and place him in handcuffs. During her appearance on “Morning Joe,” Kumar rushed to Padilla’s defense by saying Noem had the responsibility to take his question and ease the entire situation.
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“Let’s take a step back, Willie. Let’s assume that she did not hear him identify himself. How many times have we witnessed leaders at a podium, whether it’s [former Republican] Senator [John] McCain, whether we were talking about [former President George] Bush, whether we’re talking about [former President Barack] Obama. Even [former DHS] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas. How many times have they been in a place where they are heckled at the podium? And they do what is right, what leaders do. They de-escalate the situation. They basically say, ‘you know what, I can’t take your question now. But perhaps afterwards .’ That is the job of a leader.”
“You have Secretary Noem who is in charge of 250,000 agents around the country, and she cannot de-escalate a basic press conference?” Kumar continued. “Instead, it has to go to the maximum where they handcuff a sitting senator? That actually goes to a broader issue. Is she the right person for this job? Does she understand that right now, if she cannot control a press conference, how can we make sure there are not going to be rogue ICE agents, rogue folks that are not going to interfere with people’s constitutional rights simply because she does not have the authority or the ability to actually reign her in?”
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Kumar added that Padilla simply did his job by asking Noem a question inside a federal building. She also made the assumption that someone in the administration approached Noem and told her that she “really messed up.”
“[Noem’s] job at the podium, as the head of ICE, is to de-escalate situations and she absolutely failed,” Kumar concluded.
After being removed from the premises, Padilla told reporters on Thursday that he was simply fulfilling his responsibilities as a senator to “conduct oversight and accountability.” He said he arrived at the press conference to receive “additional information” about the DHS’s increased arrests and that he got thrown out for “peacefully” asking a question.
“I was there peacefully, at one point I had a question, and so I began to ask a question,” Padilla said. “I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room, I was forced to the ground and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested, I was not detained. I will say this, if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country.”
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Footage showed Padilla refusing to obey officers’ orders to put his hands up and fought back as they tried to escort him from the room.
DHS said in a statement on X that Padilla engaged in “political theatre” by interrupting the press conference as he “lunged” at Noem. The agency confirmed that Noem met with the senator for a 15 minute meeting after the incident. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the DHS, said that the Secret Service believed Padilla was an “attacker” and “appropriately” removed him from the premises.
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