[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              ALEX PADILLA

  Ms. ALSOBROOKS. Mr. President, I stand today, and I am shaking. I am 
so angry. I am so enraged with the treatment that I witnessed today of 
my colleague Senator Padilla. This is not the America--this is not the 
America--that each of us comes here each day to stand on behalf of.
  There are some who are saying they don't recognize this America, and 
I want to ring the bell today for all who are watching, for all who are 
listening. We have now crossed a line.
  This is a dangerous day in the history of our country. When a Senator 
who was in a Federal building, where he had a right to be, to do an 
oversight responsibility on behalf of the citizens who have elected him 
to the Senate of the United States, and when he was there to carry out 
his duties, he was there peacefully, and he decided to ask a question.
  And in Donald Trump's America, asking a question and pushing back 
caused him to be manhandled for the whole world to see--manhandled, 
treated like a person who had come off the street. The thuggish 
behavior that I saw today is absolutely unacceptable.
  To put hands on this peaceful man, who is not only a Senator, he is a 
father, and he is a husband. He is a person. He is a venerable part of 
our society, who was there on behalf of the people who have elected him 
and who was treated violently today.
  You could see his hands up in the air. You could see his hands up in 
the air. And that was not enough. He was taken to the ground, and he 
was handcuffed.
  And what was the explanation that was given?
  It was an explanation that any reasonable person can look and know 
will be a full-on lie: that he looked like an attacker.
  Well, if this doesn't cause every person under the sound of my voice 
to shudder today, I don't know what to say about it, because today it 
is Senator Padilla, and--do you know what?--tomorrow, it can be any one 
of us.
  This is not what democracy looks like. This is anything but a 
democracy. The right to free speech is sacred in our country. The right 
to free speech is sacred, and today we watched it violated in horrible 
ways that we will account for.
  We, as a country, if we continue along this road, I tell you, we will 
account for it. It was Dr. Martin Luther King who said that the arc of 
the moral universe is long, but it does bend toward justice.
  This injustice cannot stand. This cannot stand. And I tell you, 
America, let's be careful. We cannot continue along this road. We 
absolutely cannot. We must continue to encourage and allow free speech. 
It is the right of every person in this country.
  Today, I am sickened, and I am angry, and something must happen. 
These people must be held to account for what happened to Senator 
Padilla today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.

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