The Department of Homeland Security alleged in a post on X that Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was detained because he attended the event "without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on." It's something one U.S. Senator called a "lie."
Video shows Padilla being grabbed by FBI officers, where he says, "I'm U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary."
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) delivered a passionate speech in which he both fact-checked the Department of Homeland Security and called out officers for claiming they weren't supposed to be filming.
"This is the stuff of dictatorships. It's actually happening," he said. "A United States senator was manhandled, shoved to the ground and cuffed. He identified himself. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. That should be enough. That should be enough."
"A United States senator who is, by the way, protected by the speech and debate clause of the Constitution of the United States, and a specific statute that allows him to oversee immigration facilities," he continued. "And he says I'm a senator, and I have a question. And to Chris Murphy's point, they said he was being disrespectful. Being disrespectful is legal. Being disrespectful is American. Being disruptive is okay if it's just using your words and not your body. This is the stuff of dictatorships."
He went on to say that he's "terrified" seeing that no Republicans are standing up against what happened.
"One of the officers who throws him to the ground, as he's clearly complying, cuffs him, face down on the carpet, and they say there's no — they say there's no recording in here. It's a damn press conference. It's for recording. They didn't want to hear him speaking," Schatz added.
He noted, "This is not something on the internet for us to argue about. We all know what we saw."
Schatz went on to call on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) "to walk us back from the brink."
In response to the post on X, several community notes" have already been submitted, fact-checking it and stating that Padilla identified himself, linking to the video.
"This is a lie. The full released clip shows him identifying himself and trying to ask questions before being shoved away..." one note says.
Reposting the statement, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) called them "liars."
"As you can see in the video, Sen. Padilla clearly identifies himself. DHS still wrote this post falsely claiming that he did not," CNN host Abby D. Phillip posted as well.
See the clip below or at the link here.
- YouTube youtu.be
