On the floor of the Senate, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California once again lashed out at President Donald Trump and his administration on Tuesday, June 17, for what he described as the militarization of Los Angeles, and urged members of Congress and the American people to push back against a president whom Padilla accused of abusing his powers.
In blistering remarks just five days after he was forcibly removed from U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference while trying to ask a question, Padilla issued a stern warning that democracy itself is at stake.
“It’s not just about immigrant communities or even just the state of California,” Padilla said, referencing the many federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and the Trump administration’s decision to send in troops in response to mass protests over the past two weeks.
“It’s about every single American who values their constitutional rights,” the senator continued. “It’s about anyone who’s ever exercised their First Amendment rights, or anyone who’s ever disagreed with a president, or anyone who simply values our democracy and wants to keep it.”
Padilla delivered his remarks about a couple hours before a scheduled federal appeals court hearing in San Francisco to consider whether the president can continue to control California’s National Guard troops.
Back in the nation’s capital, Padilla said that Republicans in Congress may “choose not to do their job. But they cannot stop me from doing mine.”
“And I refuse to let immigrants be political pawns on his (Trump’s) path towards fascism,” continued Padilla, a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee.
Federal immigration raids and subsequent mass protests have taken place in the greater Los Angeles area since June 6. While most demonstrators have protested peacefully, there have been agitators who have thrown bottles and other objects at law enforcement agents, set vehicles on fire and vandalized or looted properties.
Responding to the unrest, Trump, deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles during that first weekend of protests to protect federal property and federal agents carrying out immigration-enforcement actions.
His federalization of the California National Guard came over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Typically, it is the governor of a state that has control over their state’s National Guard, and it is rare for a president to override that power.
In addition to the roughly 4,000 National Guard troops that the Trump administration deployed to Los Angeles, it ordered about 700 active-duty Marines to the area.
The last time a U.S. president sent National Guard troops into a state without a governor’s consent was in 1965 when then-President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered troops to Alabama to protect civil rights protesters.
Trump has insisted that he saved Los Angeles from chaos by sending in troops.
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles …, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” he posted on his Truth Social account on June 10.
Padilla on Tuesday said Trump was continuing to push his limits of power and using California as a test case.
On Sunday, Trump called for “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History” and spoke of expanding immigration-enforcement actions in “America’s largest Cities,” such as L.A., Chicago and New York, in another post on Truth Social. “These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center,” Trump wrote.
Noting that these are all cities whose elected leaders are Democrats, Padilla said that Trump was now “saying the quiet part out loud.” He urged anyone who cared about the fundamental values of a democracy to stand up against a president whom Padilla described as a “tyrant.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an independent,” Padilla said. “We all have a responsibility to speak up and to push back before it’s too late.”
