Senator's op-ed begs GOP to 'wake up' as Trump just fired a 'warning shot'

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) on Thursday offered a blunt assessment of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics.

Padilla was briefly detained by law enforcement last week while attending a news conference by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The senator was dragged out of the room, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed.

Noem initially claimed that Padilla did not identify himself and "lunged" at Noem while she spoke. Video of the incident shared by Padilla's office contradicts those claims.

Padilla wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration is a scapegoat for Trump's political failings. He also described the rhetoric as a cloak that Trump is using to try and test the limits of his power.

"What’s happening in Los Angeles is a warning shot," Padilla wrote, referring to the presence of National Guard and Marines during the immigration protests last week.

"But I pray it can also be a wake-up call — for my Republican Senate colleagues who have stayed silent in the face of their colleague’s handcuffing, but also for Americans of every stripe who think they’re insulated from Mr. Trump’s power grabs because they’re not immigrants or because they’re not from a blue state," Padilla continued.

Federal law permits a president to send the National Guard to quell rebellions and insurrections if local law enforcement cannot handle the situation themselves.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) sued the Trump administration, claiming that none of these conditions were met before troops were deployed. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is currently reviewing the case.

Padilla claimed Trump was "deliberately twisting dissent" to manufacture the authority to deploy troops to LA.

"Today, it’s immigrants on the receiving end of Donald Trump’s outrage machine. Tomorrow, it could be anyone," Padilla wrote.