[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3368-S3369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              ALEX PADILLA

  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I never thought I would imagine having to 
stand here and discuss what I saw today: a U.S. Senator, in his own 
community, in the city in which he grew up, elected under the authority 
of the people, stepping forward to get answers to legitimate questions, 
and we see him being thrown to the ground after being removed from a 
room forcibly and put into handcuffs by multiple people.
  This, to me, is such an abuse of authority. It is a violent act. 
There can be no justification of seeing a Senator forced to their 
knees, laid flat on the ground, their hands twisted behind their back, 
and being put into restraints. If you see the video, at that point, he 
is not fighting; he is not pushing.
  But this is a pattern and a practice. This is not an isolated 
incident. I remind people that in my own community, in the city of 
Newark, we had a Congresswoman and a mayor at a facility. The mayor, 
invited into the gate; the Congress people, invited into a conference 
room; and then the mayor, asked to leave, who did leave; and then 
numerous agents run out to arrest that mayor. Now, the judge in this 
case said it was outrageous and reprimanded the Trump administration 
for the arrest in and of itself.
  We see, time and time again, this administration trying to 
precipitate a response by the misuse and the abuse of force. This is 
more akin to authoritarian governments.
  When you see a democratic nation having their executive begin to 
arrest mayors, begin to arrest judges, begin to arrest a U.S. Senator 
who is simply

[[Page S3369]]

asking for answers to their questions, to remove them from a room 
forcibly, to throw them to the ground, to put them in restraints, this 
is something that we should not tolerate. And by we--this is not 
Democrats and Republicans. This is we in this body.
  We have a constitutional obligation to provide oversight to the 
executive; a constitutional obligation to ask questions, to make 
inquiries; a constitutional obligation to check and balance the 
authority of the executive.
  So here we saw, before our eyes, a Senator in their district, in 
their State, asking questions, and we see him being shoved out of a 
room--but it did not stop there--shoved to the ground, shoved onto his 
belly, and have his arms pulled behind his back. This should outrage 
every U.S. Senator.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Would the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. BOOKER. I would yield for a question while retaining the right to 
the floor.
  Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the Senator for yielding.
  I just watched footage of our colleague--my California colleague--
Senator Alex Padilla, being forcibly removed from a briefing by the 
Secretary of Homeland Security's staff. He went there to observe and to 
ask questions, and I watched with horror on this video, seeing these 
agents grab my colleague--my fellow Senator from California--grab him, 
push him out of the hearing, as he was identifying himself as a U.S. 
Senator, bringing him into a hallway, bringing him down to the ground, 
bringing his arms behind his back. I saw this happen to my colleague, 
and I am shocked by how far we have descended in the first 140 days of 
this administration, where we have a President calling out the military 
over the objection of a Governor to try to intimidate and interfere 
with law enforcement in California, calling out the Marines to try to 
inflame tensions in our city; and, now, this latest act, when a U.S. 
Senator goes to demand questions about the lawfulness or lawlessness of 
these actions, to see him tackled to the ground, brought to the ground.
  What is becoming of our democracy? Are there no limits to what this 
administration will do? Is there no line they will not cross? We see 
lawlessness after lawlessness. We see threats to judges of impeachment 
and of physical harm. We see arrests of Members of Congress. And now 
this.
  All of us have lived as part of a generation since World War II that 
was used to seeing our freedoms ever expanding. We saw walls coming 
down. We saw new democracies being born. We came to think that somehow 
this was inevitable like the laws of nature; that it was the moral arc 
of the universe always bending toward justice, only to see that it was 
not bending toward justice.
  And to see this now at home; to see, in the United States of America, 
the executive use force like this against a Member of a coequal branch 
of government; to see that it has come to this already--and not a peep 
yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, no whisper of 
dissent yet. I hope that changes. I hope that changes.
  The Founders separated the powers between the executive and the 
legislative and the judiciary because they wanted to set ambition 
against ambition--ambition of one institution against another--to 
protect all of our freedom, but that requires that we go beyond our 
partisan affiliations and when something is wrong--dead wrong--when 
something is a threat to our democracy, that we call it out regardless 
of party. And this is wrong. This is wrong.
  We ask: How do you lose a democracy? How does one lose a democracy? 
This is how you lose a democracy: actions like today. But even more 
importantly than what has just happened is what will happen in the next 
24 hours. Will this be roundly condemned? Will this be roundly 
condemned or somehow will we just fall down some partisan line again 
and see another leap toward autocracy in this country?
  Alex Padilla is one of the most decent people I know, one of the most 
dedicated public servants I know, someone of just the greatest 
character. We all know him well in this institution. He embodies public 
service. He never forgot where he came from. He came from very humble 
origins, and he never forgot where he came from.
  And the beauty of this country is you can come from a very humble 
origin, and you can end up here. When I first got here, Jon Tester, a 
farmer from Montana and a Senator from Montana, told me about a 
conversation he had with John D. Rockefeller when he got here. He said 
Rockefeller told him: You and I came from very different places, but we 
both ended up here.
  It is the beauty of America that Alex Padilla could end up here, by 
dint of his brilliance and his integrity and his compassion. And all of 
that is at risk. All of that is at risk right now if we let the abusive 
handling of this good man and so many other good men and women around 
the country--if we let this go without our firmest opposition, without 
our strongest pushback, without our strongest defense of our democracy.
  With that, I ask the Senator from New Jersey whether he will yield to 
the Senator to my right, yield for a question.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). Senator, excuse me. Let me 
consult the Parliamentarian for just a second.
  The 10 minutes allotted to the Senator in morning business has 
expired. Another Senator may seek recognition in his or her own right.
  The Senator from Washington.

                          ____________________